Food Appreciation

I am inspired by Nessa's and Nica's blogs to appreciate food more and to pay attention to its taste, texture, and other attributes of good quality, and so I have decided not to just read the blogs but to also do something on my own.
As a start, I asked myself what my favorite Thai food is. The current favorite is Kai Pad Qing -Ginger Chicken. (I am not sure if it's exclusively Thai.)
Whenever I go to a Thai restaurant alone, except when I'm in Bang Saphan Noi where Thailand's southern region begins and local food is different, the only dish I always order is ginger chicken with rice, never anything else. It's been going on for about three months. This is so that I can compare.
The cook at a small restaurant in Banrai knows me so well that I never need to order anymore. It's always ginger chicken, no MSG, no sugar, easy on the salt.

Here are my findings.

The thinner ginger is sliced, and therefore the smaller the ginger "strings" are, the better. The thin slices allow more ginger taste to come through and mix with other ingredients, and ginger tastes really great.

My second finding is that ginger chicken tastes a lot better when it's zapped at high heat in a wok. This quickly opens up and then seals the various tastes. Surprisingly, many places just pan fry, and what one gets is a soggy dish with no distinctive tastes.

Finally, a little spiciness is great, for otherwise there's a nice taste but neither surprise nor excitement. I like pepper cut in fairly large pieces for this purpose.

As you can see, I am trying to develop a serious tone here - a bit of "culinary gravitas". No ketchup jokes. Give me another year and who knows, I may be an expert on what makes ginger chicken cross the road.

Photo location: Bang Saphan Noi, Prachuabkhirikan province