Family business Teigen’s mother was a lunch vendor in the small town where they lived in Thailand. “My mom would sell food everyday outside of schools, sort of like an unofficial cafeteria lady, and my job before school would be to go to the market—usually around 2 a.m.!—and help her with prep work like cutting and peeling vegetables.” From mother to daughter “By the time I was 10 years old, I had my own job selling kanom krok (Thai coconut pancakes), which is the first thing I remember cooking by myself. This is a recipe that gets passed down from mother to daughter, so my grandmother taught my mom, my mom taught me, and when my daughters Chrissy and Tina were little, it’s one of the first dishes we would all cook together. I even got to make kanom krok with Luna for the first time recently!” Dish she learned from Chrissy “I’m so proud of what a good cook Chrissy has become! One of my favorite dishes of hers is her roasted rack of lamb. Lamb is something I never ate in Thailand, but now we love it.” Teigen includes her own version, with mint pesto, in the cookbook. Coming to America “It was definitely really hard at first for a lot of reasons,” Teigen recalls. “My English at the time wasn’t all that great, and I was so far away from family and everything I knew in Thailand.” When she first arrived in the States in the ’80s, just finding familiar ingredients was tough. “I’d drive hours to find a specialty grocery store that had Thai basil and lemongrass so I could have a taste of home,” she says. “Eventually, I learned how to incorporate some flavors that I was more used to into more traditional American dishes, which has become part of my signature style.” Among her favorites: scalloped potatoes embellished with ham and bacon, and spaghetti with sweet chile jam. Go-to comfort food Spring rolls. “I think they always make everything better,” says Teigen, who shares her recipe in the book. “The story of these spring rolls goes back to my early days in America, when my then-husband Ron and I moved to Idaho after Chrissy was born. Ron bought an old tavern called Porky’s. My job there was pouring the drinks and cooking for the guests, and one of the immediate specialties was my fried spring rolls, which we sold for $1 each. They were such a hit! It was a special time in my life, and I loved seeing how these spring rolls could bring such different people together. Anytime I make them, it just makes me feel happy.” Must-have ingredients It’s no surprise peppers top Teigen’s list. “As many people know, my love for spicy foods is how I got my nickname Pepper, and it’s not an exaggeration to say I like to put peppers in almost every food.” She also grows Thai basil and lemongrass in her garden and stocks her pantry with coconut milk, curry pastes and fish sauce. Top gear Teigen is so attached to her wok that she has an entire chapter of recipes devoted to it in her book and designed Pepper’s Wok & Tool Set($72 for wok, spider strainer and wooden tongs, cravingsbychrissyteigen.com). She also likes using a mortar and pestle to make sauces. “Even though most things can be made in a food processor, I love the handmade touch of using the mortar and pestle, since it activates all senses.” Next, Make Pepper Teigen’s Thai-Style Bar Nuts
