So I've decided to learn a new countries cuisine and have

Buy the pok pok book if you wanna learn Thai food.

But yes jarred red curry paste is that, though you can usually punch it up with your own lemongrass/star anise/galangal/Thai chillis while you're cooking it to improve the flavor.

>>8424687

From what I have read, and from personal experience, most of the pre-made curry pastes (except green) are passable. Pre-made green curry paste is always pretty bad (at least in my experience).

If you're looking for recipes then be careful. I love thai food but alas 99% of the recipes out there are crap because they call for so many ingredient substitutions. It won't taste right if you're not using the right ingredients.

I've found these books to be legit (and even endorsed by a few family friends who are Thai):

Thai Street Food by David Thompson
Pok Pok by Andy Ricker
Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu

Another recommendation: Avoid that "Thai Kitchen" brand of products. Instead, get brands that actually are Thai. Look for a bunch of Thai writing on the container. The two main brands I see most often are Mae Ploy and Maeseri. I find the former to be overly salty so if I am using a pre-made paste I use the latter brand.

Find yourself a good source for turmeric root (not powder), galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. You're going to need them, and there really is no substitute.

>>8424689
>>8424690
>>8424694

Thanks guys, I'm not sure what to do about getting actual good advice on this board....I figured this would hit page 10 without a single reply because it didn't have something to do with the mcchicken or pizza

>>8424694
I can recommend the Simple Thai Food book as well. I came back from Thailand and that was the book that got me into making some of the things I had tried overseas. Things like Pad Thai are quite easy to make too. This book and all of the others mentioned are easy to find online as a PDF download if you know where to look.

>>8424690
Useful post patrol at it again, thanks mods!