Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.
Food Network star Jet Tila’s parents opened the first Thai market in the US in 1972. Now he’s trying to introduce people who aren’t Thai to the foods he grew up with. He tells the story of protecting his family’s store during the LA riots and explains why he considers himself more a businessman than a chef.
This episode originally aired on July 15, 2017, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Dan Charles. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder and transcription by Emily Nguyen.
Interstitial music in this episode by Black Label Music:
- "Sun So Sunny" by Calvin Dashielle
- "Legend" by Erick Anderson
- "Pong" by Kenneth J. Brahmstedt
- "New Old" by JT Bates
- “Soul Good” by Lance Conrad
Photo courtesy of Jet Tila.
Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.
View Transcript
Dan Pashman: Dan here, with another Reheat for you. This is a conversation I had with chef Jet Tila — and I should warn you, this episode features some graphic descriptions of delicious Thai dishes and it may leave you hungry. This meal I had with Jet really deepened my appreciation for Thai food. In fact, as we drop this episode, I am in Las Vegas probably eating at Lotus of Siam, which many people say is the best Thai restaurant in America. I've been once, I can't wait to go back.
Dan Pashman: But like I said, Jet gets a lot of credit for deepening my appreciation for Thai cuisine and he has continued to release cookbooks since this episode came out in 2017. He’s even starred in his own Food Network show, Ready Jet Cook.
Dan Pashman: And you may also remember, that Jet was one of my cascatelli taste testers. When I sent samples to select friends, Jet gave me some great feedback, so I love Jet. You're gonna love this episode. Remember, if there’s an older episode of Sporkful that you want us to pull out of the deep freezer, send me an email or voice memo to hello@sporkful.com — give me your first name, your location, what episode you want to hear and why. Thanks so much. Enjoy.
Dan Pashman: I hope you're far enough along in your day of press, you'll have beer with me.
Jet Tila: I would love to.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] All right!
Jet Tila: I only drink Chang Beer though. Do you remember that?
Dan Pashman: You know, let's do it. Yeah.
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] All right.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] But wait, you'll have to tell me, so what ...
Jet Tila: So right, there's two beers in Thailand, right?
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: And I do prefer Chang ...
Dan Pashman: This is Food Network star and Chef Jet Tila. We met up recently at Kiin Thai Eatery in New York.
Jet Tila: So I like it. I like the beer a lot. It's Pilsner, light, good for Thai food.
Dan Pashman: So, but Singha ....
Jet Tila: Yeah, that's the other one. Actually, let me give you a hack, brother.
Dan Pashman: Please, yes.
Jet Tila: The true eat like a pro tip is take the -ha out of there.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
Jet Tila: Sing ...
Dan Pashman: Yeah?
Jet Tila: That's how you pronounce it.
Dan Pashman: Really? Thank you.
Jet Tila: That'll differentiate you for when you're in a Thai restaurant.
Dan Pashman: Oh, so now they'll — they're like, "He's only 99.9% white, it turns out."
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] There you go. There you go.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: And you can ask for Thai spicy if you say the beer word right, so ..
Dan Pashman: Oh right, okay.
Jet Tila: Yeah, yeah.
Dan Pashman: So I'll be able to get it legit.
Jet Tila: [JET TILA ORDERING IN THAI] They're gonna throw it down.
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Jet Tila: So we can — yeah, I know.
Dan Pashman: Now we're gonna get Thai spicy when I said it.
Jet Tila: I sound like a white dude from Orange County but I'm actually an Asian guy.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Jet’s parents opened the first Thai market in America, back in 1972. Today on the show, he’ll talk about growing up in the store:
CLIP (JET TILA): That Asian kid that you see doing their homework when you walk into an Asian mom and pop restaurant, I was that kid.
Dan Pashman: And he'll tell a story about protecting it during the L.A. riots:
CLIP (JET TILA): I mean, in high school, I had a gun in my hand ... People are, like, popping off gunshots everywhere. You know, I was too stupid to, like, know what kind of real danger I was in.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Plus, he’ll talk about the challenges of writing an Asian cookbook that’s both accessible and authentic. Then later, what’s the hardest part of cooking pad thai for 20,000 people at once? Jet’ll tell us because he did it ... for fun. Stick around.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: This is The Sporkful, it’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters. I’m Dan Pashman. Each week on our show we obsess about food to learn more about people. If you watch Food Network, you’ve seen Jet Tila — on Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, and Iron Chef America:
[CLIP FROM IRON CHEF AMERICA]
CLIP (HOST): Who thirsts to discover our secret ingredient and enter the heat of battle here in Kitchen Stadium? The chairman welcomes Chef Jet Tila!
Dan Pashman: Jet once told an interviewer that his ultimate dream is to become the authority on Pan Asian food in America. Well today, he’s well on his way. He just released his first cookbook: 101 Asian Dishes You Need To Cook Before You Die. He’s opened restaurants all over the country and the café at Google’s headquarters. He developed the Indian and Thai dishes at many Whole Foods. He’s partnered with the world’s largest food service company to create a pan Asian fast food concept for businesses, hospitals, and college campuses.
Dan Pashman: In other words, Jet Tila’s food reaches a lot of people. And as you’ll hear today, it’s also his way of carrying on a family tradition. Jet picked Kiin Thai Eatery in New York for our taping. I had never been.
Jet Tila: I love this, man. I mean, hanging out with you, drinking beer.
Dan Pashman: This is great, cheers.
Jet Tila: This is the best. Cheers, brother.
[CLICK BEER GLASSES]
Jet Tila: Mmm.
Dan Pashman: Pro tip, when a chef picks the restaurant you're meeting him at because he likes it so much, you let him order.
Jet Tila: Maybe some northern dishes, like Nam prik Ong and Khao Soi ... Maybe a few things to lay down.
Dan Pashman: Perfect.
Jet Tila: Like, things, A, that are in my cookbook ...
Dan Pashman: Right.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: Very smart, very shrewd ...
Jet Tila: Right — that are done well here.
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Jet Tila: [ORDERS IN THAI]
Dan Pashman: Thank you. Tell me about your grandmother.
Jet Tila: Oh! My mom's mom was a hard tough and amazing woman. She was, like, four feet nothing.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: Right? At three years old, you know, I was walking, I was talking at that point, and she knew early ... Jet Tila ... He's a troublemaker. And she's like, dude, you stand next to me on a stool and watch me cook dinner every single night. And you know, I probably got to witness 3,000 meals like that. And her influence was the genesis of my knowledge and passion for food. So that was my grandma, she was my first cooking instructor.
Dan Pashman: Are there specific dishes that you cook today that really remind you of her?
Jet Tila: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, being an illiterate Chinese woman, she only communicated via doing things. And so, you know, five-spice pork belly was the thing I loved to eat as a kid. I cook that all the time. Making rice really reminds me of my grandmother. Cooking fried rice ... You know, it's more the simple dishes. You know, teaching me how to roast Chinese BBQ pork ... I mean, all those things, like, were directly taught and I'm trying to pass them on to my kids now.
Dan Pashman: What do you think she saw in you that made her take you under her wing like that?
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] Dude, it wasn't any brilliance ... [DAN PASHMAN LAUGHS] or anything. Like, dude ... It was, you're gonna be an eff-up, and I got to teach you a trade cause you're not gonna do well in school.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: And I can tell now. I had no idea that — you know, I've later been diagnosed to have ADHD, but at that point [LAUGHS] when you're like zero years old and has a grandmother who has no education, she's like, that kid's just out of control ...
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: And out of his mind.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: What calms him down is cooking.
Dan Pashman: Why do you think that is?
Jet Tila: I have no idea! I've always had a fascination for why food tastes the way it tastes and why things do things they do. Does that make sense?
Dan Pashman: Yeah, yeah.
Jet Tila: Like I have this intense fascination. So I was always asking questions, you know what I mean? I always wanted to touch food. Maybe it was a tactile thing? Maybe it was a sensory situation? I ended up marrying a woman who has a degree in special education ...
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: So all this stuff is much clearer now ...
Dan Pashman: Right, right.
Jet Tila: Like, four years later. Yeah, yeah, so there you go.
Dan Pashman: Right. She's like, "Jet, do you need your fidget spinner?"
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] Yeah, that's exactly right. She's like, "Oh, you had sensory issues ..."
Dan Pashman: Right, right.
Jet Tila: You had this and you had that .... I'm like, ohh, I wish I eff-ing knew, like, all those years ago.
Dan Pashman: Jet eventually went to the famed cooking school Le Cordon Bleu, but it all began there at his Grandma’s side. She was Cantonese, Jet’s parents came here from Thailand and settled in L.A. That was in 1966, after a treaty between the U.S. and Thailand made it a lot easier to get a visa:
Jet Tila: So a giant influx of Thai people came in, okay? It was what we called the first wave — the Thai people call the first wave — the originals, you know what I mean? My parents were part of it.
Dan Pashman: The O.T.'s.
Jet Tila: Straight O.T.'s!
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: Exactly. My dad's a kid who made a lot of trouble in Thailand — we won't go into that.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: And his parents are like, you're probably better off going to America. My mom was more, like, middle class, you know? My grandfather was an engineer and they came in separately.
Dan Pashman: So they met in the U.S.
Jet Tila: They met in the U.S.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
Jet Tila: Everything Thai in America started from that group of 1966. 1972, my dad starts a little trading post. It's a 600-square-foot stall in east Hollywood, and he called it The Bangkok Market — like, you know, he didn't know what else to call it.
Dan Pashman: And at that point, it must have been very hard for new Thai immigrants to get the ingredients they needed to cook the foods they ...
Jet Tila: Yeah, we didn't have anything. But, you know, my dad was a really clever guy, like, he couldn't get lemongrass, so I think it was one of the Ag schools that had a program where they were growing kaffir lime leaves or Thai lime leaves, Thai limes, lemongrass ... So he may or may not have taken a night time drive in to take a few clippings and establish lemongrass ...
Dan Pashman: Right, right.
Jet Tila: Yeah, and kaffir lime leaves, so ...
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: So I guess, whatever got him in trouble in Thailand ...
Jet Tila: Yeah, he's a real ...
Dan Pashman: Didn't entirely leave behind.
Jet Tila: That's exactly right. He's a very resourceful guy. You know what I mean?
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: So yeah, we did some genetic test on, like, you know, lemongrass. It probably all started from that one original strain at like, you know, UC Santa Barbara ... I mean, you know, whatever. Yeah, so ...
Dan Pashman: But so, it's interesting because it feels like there's kind of — this market, on one hand, was a great business move.
Jet Tila: Right.
Dan Pashman: Your dad was a smart businessman.
Jet Tila: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: This influx of people were coming in, they need these ingredients. But there's also sort of a communal aspect to it. You know, people are missing home.
Jet Tila: That's it. That's it.
Dan Pashman: They're missing home.
Jet Tila: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: And so your dad was providing some of that.
Jet Tila: Yeah. You know, I've never told this story, like, ever in any interview. But so, you know, we had people in the community pass away and, you know, they had no money for funerals. They would literally close the market down and they were hammering together boards and nails to make coffins. Like, it was … That was much of a community spot. There was no Thai temple yet, so they had monks come over and do some of the first, you know, blessings and prayers. So Bangkok Market was the epicenter of Thai community, right? So yeah, so he did it because he wanted to bring his people together. He wanted a place you could feel like you were at home, or you could actually connect with people that were coming in and out of the home, and it was the first place in America that, you know, a Thai center.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Coming up, more with Jet Tila. He’ll tell the story of protecting his family’s store during the L.A. riots.
CLIP (DAN PASHMAN): So you were on the roof with 30 people and a bunch of guns.
CLIP (JET TILA): That's it. Yeah, that's exactly what it was and people patrolling, like hanging out, just making sure no one firebombs the place and no one loots the place.
Dan Pashman: Then, later on, he’ll explain the unique challenges of cooking 4,000 pounds of stir fry.
CLIP (JET TILA): I had to build a 25-foot wok. How do you get heat to it?
Dan Pashman: That’s all coming up, stick around.
MUSIC
+++BREAK+++
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Welcome back to The Sporkful, I’m Dan Pashman. Hey, if you're already following The Sporkful in your podcasting app, what are you waiting for? In Apple Podcasts and Spotify, go to our show page and click follow. In other apps, it might be, like, a plus sign or a subscribe button or a heart. Whatever it is in your podcasting app, please do that thing. It's the best way to ensure you'll never miss an episode and it's good for our show. So please, go ahead and do it right now while you're listening. Thank you.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Now let's get back to my conversation with Jet Tila. The food arrived with apologies for our pronunciations, there was Nam Prik Ong, a minced pork chili dip with curry and tomatoes. It's sweet and spicy and it comes with various tools for dipping — fresh veggies and pork rinds, hard-boiled egg, and Thai sticky rice.
Jet Tila: ... and a little bit of bamboo steamed sticky rice, so anyway you want to do it, bro.
Dan Pashman: Oh, and you're forming the rice in, like, [Jet Tila: Yeah.] almost — that's a very deft maneuver there.
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] Yeah, I guess, it's second nature.
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Jet Tila: So in order to eat Thai sticky rice, it — again, you form it into a ball first ...
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: And then once you form it into a ball — yeah, you got to do it with me here.
Dan Pashman: Gonna put my hand in here. Yeah.
Jet Tila: Get in there.
Dan Pashman: I'm doing it with you.
Jet Tila: Make a loose ... loose ball, not too tight.
Dan Pashman: A loose ball. Okay.
Jet Tila: Good.
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Jet Tila: And then you're going to smash it almost into a disk.
Dan Pashman: Yes.
Jet Tila: A concave disk, right? And that flat disk can be used to grab things with or to hold things in.
Dan Pashman: Oh, this is ...
Jet Tila: Right?
Dan Pashman: This is great.
Jet Tila: It's like eating with tortillas ...
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: Or pupusas or injera ...
Dan Pashman: Or even, like, Indian style, like if this was, like, naan or something.
Jet Tila: Yeah. That's exactly right.
Dan Pashman: Right, right. And then you do, like, a pinching move.
Jet Tila: I grab, like, a little pinch. I can make a little taco ...
Dan Pashman: All right.
Jet Tila: Right? And then you go ...
Dan Pashman: I think I got my fingers in the dip a little more than you did, but [JET TILA LAUGHS] I'm a rookie.
Jet Tila: It's all good, brother.
Dan Pashman: Just so you know double dipping is allowed on The Sporkful, Jet.
Jet Tila: Yes, and also is in Thailand as well.
Dan Pashman: Oh really? Is that true?
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: Yeah!
Dan Pashman: There's no such rule?
Jet Tila: No, no. You know, no. I mean, if you're really eating with friends and family. But if — yo, if I don't know you, then I'm gonna put a ...
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: There's enough chili in here to kill anything.
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: Then there was the next dish.
Jet Tila: This is what we call Sai Ua This is a leaner style northern sausage jammed full of ground lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Unlike other sausages, not so much fat added. This is a super lean sausage — really good.
Dan Pashman: We wrap the sausage up in lettuce leaves and added peanuts, bits of lime and sliced ginger. I follow Jet's lead and took small bites of chili separately every so often — such a good combination of flavors and textures with the peanuts in there. Then there was the Khao Soi — eggs noodles and chicken and a fantastic curry that was sweet, sour, spicy, and there was a nest of crunchy fried noodles on top, which soaked up the curry and turned crispy and chewy — soo good. As we ate, we got back to talking about Jet's family's Thai market.
Dan Pashman: I know that the area where Bangkok Market is, now a lot of those areas are gentrified or are gentrifying in L.A., but back when your parents first opened the store and when you were growing up, it was not as good of an area. Tell me about some of the issues that arose there.
Jet Tila: Yes, so Bangkok Market is a mile away from, you know, "the park" that MS-13 was created in, right? Like, if you don't know, it's Central America's Mara Salvatruch — it's, like, the biggest — almost the biggest gang in the world now. So yeah, we had MS-13, we had Clanton-13, we had 18th Street — I mean, that was the '70s, '80s, and '90s. So look, I was held up at gunpoint at least three times. I got carjacked. I mean, I lived through the riots ...
Dan Pashman: What were the L.A. Riots like at Bangkok Market? Tell me about dealing with that.
Jet Tila: So in April 1992, I was in high school and ... So I watched the verdict come down, right?
Dan Pashman: This was Rodney King ...
Jet Tila: Rodney King verdict ...
Dan Pashman: Yeah.
Jet Tila: I watched the Rodney King verdict come down, officers were acquitted, and then because I was at the market, I think, you know, I started to see the fires in south L.A. and then in east L.A. and then Koreatown. And we are about a mile away from Koreatown. And so my father and I were like, you know, what? We got to close the market, bring everyone we know in with guns and barricade the doors. So we basically locked the market down into a compound, put up 50-pound jasmine rice sacks in every single window to make them bulletproof, got on the roof and we hunkered down for three days. We had an unending supply of food, we didn't have any power though. And then the first two days were the hairiest days, right?
Dan Pashman: So you were on the roof with 30 people and a bunch of guns.
Jet Tila: That's it. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. And people patrolling, like hanging out, just making sure no one firebombs the place and no one loots the place. And all we hear for three days is gunshots around us and we see smoke plumes. And I think on the second day, that's when the National Guard was activated and that's when it started to calm down cause the police could not control the area.
Dan Pashman: What were you thinking up there on the roof?
Jet Tila: [SIGHS] You know, this is everything our family has and no one's gonna touch it. So I was scared, I was excited — dude, I'm like, I'm in high school and I got a gun in my hand. People are, like, popping off gunshots everywhere. So you know, I was too stupid to, like, know what kind of real danger I was in.
Dan Pashman: Jet says a few people did take shots at the store, but when they saw that everyone on the roof was armed, they went away. The market wasn't looted and nobody on the roof was hurt. But Jet says if they weren't there, the store would have been in big trouble.
Jet Tila: So yeah, that was, like ... That was my upbringing. And now, it's like, yo, like I see people walking by with yoga mats ...
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: You know what I mean? And there's like kombucha ... Like I got to start carrying kombucha soon ...
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: So it's just been a trippy change. Like, and I don't know if it's been a positive or negative influence. I mean, I think it's positive because more people who are interested in cooking Thai food shop at the store now — cause they're not scared of driving in the neighborhood, cause they live in that neighborhood, but I don't really — I haven't seen the downside, you know?
Dan Pashman: What do your parents think of the change in their clientele?
Jet Tila: They love it, because, you know, again, these — I don't want to call them hipsters, but ...
Dan Pashman: Upscale non-Asians, we can all them.
Jet Tila: These upscale non-Asians are the ones that want to cook more Asian food now. It's a total trip.
Dan Pashman: And just as Bangkok Market finds itself catering to people who didn't grow with Asian food, so does Jet. In his cookbook, you can hear him trying to nudge people to explore Asian food more deeply than maybe they have before. But he does it carefully. He doesn't want to alienate anyone. For example, he has a recipe for salt and pepper shrimp. In it, he writes, "This is the classic Cantonese shrimp with the heads and shells left on the shrimp. I know this is scary for some. The recipe is left traditional, but you can substitute peeled shrimp, if you prefer," and he continues, "I think the shells and head hold the seasoning perfectly. You can choose your own adventure here, but I hope you try this dish as it was meant to be eaten."
Jet Tila: I don't want to take away from some person that's grown up in middle America eating Thai food now, just discovering it. Whatever he's eating or she's eating is authentic to him or her and I don't want to be holier than thou about that. And then there's the semi-pro. I've been to Thailand, I eat all over, I've been to here — there's authenticity to them. There's authenticity to me, but I think there is a ... I think there's a sweet spot in flavor profiles for all cuisine. I think there is a sweet spot for the person in middle America, for the person who lives in Thailand, or has been to Thailand in flavor profiles and that's who my target audience is. I can get everybody to within 80% of authenticity, if not 100, in how I teach you how to cook Asian food. From there, if you're a novice, you'll be woken up to, oh wow, this is how Asian food works in the kitchen.
Dan Pashman: Because It's interesting, because when I first saw your book — cause I have only recently started to get into trying to cook Indian food.
Jet Tila: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: I can make a mediocre chana-masala, you know?
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS] Like, awesome.
Dan Pashman: I'm learning.
Jet Tila: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: And I've been wanting to get better at cooking Asian food and have felt kind of intimidated cause I sort of, like, don't know where to begin.
Jet Tila: Right.
Dan Pashman: I bought a jar of fish sauce, you know, and I was like, this is progress, you know?
Jet Tila: You're in the path, brother.
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: You're on the path, baby.
Dan Pashman: So when I first started your book, I said, "Oh, this is kind of what I need." We all probably overrate the degree to which things are for us?
Jet Tila: Yep.
Dan Pashman: But I felt like I was kind of the target audience because I felt like I was a non-Asian person, I didn't grow up with this cuisine, I don't know the basics. You know, and you're trying to, like, give me a foothold.
Jet Tila: Yes. Yeah. And you know, an educated foothold.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: Yeah, not just the — yo, it's either too hard or too easy.
Dan Pashman: Right, right. But I also wonder your — I mean, here we are. We're at this restaurant. You've pointed out that this is northern Thai cuisine.
Jet Tila: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: And you make a distinction between northern Thai and southern Thai, and you're obviously — you know all about that. You could probably write a dissertation about it.
Jet Tila: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: And there's definitely an effort in the book to kind of not get bogged down in those details.
Jet Tila: True. Truth.
Dan Pashman: So how did you navigate that process? I mean, you know, you must have felt some struggle?
Jet Tila: It had to be a range of 101 recipes that if you're eating teriyaki, at least make the most authentic great version. And if you're ready to tackle Khao soi, which is in there, make that version.
Dan Pashman: At this point in your career, do you think of yourself more as a chef or a businessman?
Jet Tila: I've always considered myself a businessman, entrepreneur. You know, I was always a really good cook, but I was never, like, magic chef, like I could, like, you know, run 800 covers a night ... Like, I could cook my butt off, but I always was fascinated with the business, right? I want to know how, you know, to turn food, A, into experience, and then, B, how to monetize it. So, you know, total — the passion is part of the food, but that always fascinated me so I think I've always been a businessman.
Dan Pashman: Cause it's interesting, it also makes me think of your father ...
Jet Tila: Right.
Dan Pashman: In the same way of his work being very tied to Thai culture, but also seeing a business opportunity.
Jet Tila: I think you're exactly right, I think I've just basically — you know, Tila 2.0.
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: I mean, honestly.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: I mean, yeah, the more — I mean, look, I am blessed to be immersed in the Thai culture. I know a lot about it, I'm super excited about promoting it, but yeah, like, I still — I got — yo, I got a car payment, right?
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: I got a mortgage payment ...
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: I have two kids, I got a wife, and so yeah, and the business part of it is equally as important to me.
Dan Pashman: But … And it's interesting because ... So most people know you from TV ...
Jet Tila: Yeah! Yeah.
Dan Pashman: And there's kind of a difference between being a TV chef and being a restaurant chef ...
Jet Tila: Truth.
Dan Pashman: And there's some ... There are the high-end restaurant chefs who would ... or are condescending towards [Jet Tila: Yeah, yeah.] TV chefs.
Jet Tila: You know, I love doing TV. I love being on Food Network. I ... You know what I mean? So I don't feel like I'm any less of a chef because I do cooking on TV. And there are some badass chefs on TV, and like, I would throw down with anybody, you know what I mean, that would ... that wants to say, "Yo, I'm better than you." Then bring ... Like, bring it.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: And show me you're better.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: But, by the way, I'll put it on TV and Facebook Live and so I could shame you in person ... No, I'm kidding.
[LAUGHING]
Jet Tila: So, no. I just think I have ... We have ... I have a different megaphone. I have a different lens now and you know, I've been doing food for so long, it's nice to just share it on a different level. Cause I don't care if I'm, like, not making super authentic food all the time. I think if you get into ... If they start following me, they start to get into what we do anyway and I think that's a win.
Dan Pashman: So Jet's work is designed to have mass appeal. And throughout his career, he's been very successful, not only at connecting with large audiences but also cooking for them, which is why there was one more topic we had to cover.
Dan Pashman: We got to talk about some of your Guinness World Records ...
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS[ Okay. Technically, I got six world records, if you count, like, breaking the same one twice, but whatever, man.
Dan Pashman: Who's counting though, Jet?
Jet Tila: Yeah, who's counting [Dan Pashman: Yeah.] except for ... for ... I know the stats on every single one of them.
Dan Pashman: The ones ...
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: So I guess I don't read them.
Jet Tila: No. [LAUGHS[
Dan Pashman: World's largest stir fry, 4,000 pounds. World's largest seafood stew, 6,600?
Jet Tila: Yeah, that's right.
Dan Pashman: Do you remember off the top of your head, world's largest fruit salad?
Jet Tila: 14? 16?
Dan Pashman: I think ...
Jet Tila: It's like 14 thousand something ...
Dan Pashman: In my notes, I rounded it to 15,000.
Jet Tila: I'll take that.
Dan Pashman: I wasn't as precise as you.
Jet Tila: Yeah, yeah. No, so yeah, I'll take 15,000 pounds.
Dan Pashman: I gather that that's a swimming pool's worth of fruit salad.
Jet Tila: It's exactly what we made it in.
Dan Pashman: How do you mix a swimming pool full of fruit salad?
Jet Tila: You craft these giant pizza peels. Right? Like the biggest ones you've ever seen.
Dan Pashman: Like pizza peels?
Jet Tila: Like, commercial — we've all seen a giant pizza oven and the dude with the long handled thing — it looks like a flat shovel.
Dan Pashman: Right, right.
Jet Tila: We call that a pizza peel ...
Dan Pashman: Oh, okay. Gotcha, gotcha.
Jet Tila: It peels it off the bottom of the oven.
Dan Pashman: Like the flat wooden, like, giant spatula type thing.
Jet Tila: Right.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Jet Tila: So we had to use a giant metal spatula.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
Jet Tila: And I get the biggest dudes I could find, right, and ...
Dan Pashman: I imagine it looks like you're filtering a pool.
Jet Tila: Yes! [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: It looks like you're running a net through ... like, pulling leaves out but you're actually stirring fruit salad.
Jet Tila: Yeah, I mean, if you had a 20-foot swimming pool full of fruit, and you're basically cutting enough for it to fill that swimming pool.
Dan Pashman: How many different kinds of fruit do you need for Guinness to consider it a fruit salad?
Jet Tila: You know, the nice thing is I don't think you need that many kinds, but of course, I'm an overachiever …
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: Which sucks, right? So I think I put seven or eight kinds of fruit in there.
Dan Pashman: And why?
Jet Tila: [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: What ... [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: Why, man? Why?
Dan Pashman: I mean, look ...
Jet Tila: It's to do something no one's ever done before and it's just fun. And you know, honestly, like the nerd in me likes to figure out the math and engineering problems.
Dan Pashman: Such as, like what were some of the biggest problems?
Jet Tila: So if you think about it, right, like, we needed to calculate the volume, the size of the pool. You know, that wasn't the hard one, but the hard one was to stir-fry. I had to build a 25-foot wok.
Dan Pashman: Oh my god, so this is 4,000 pounds of stir fry.
Jet Tila: Yes, exactly. And how do you light — how do you light a 4,000 — I mean, 25-foot wok? How do you get heat to it?
Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS]
Jet Tila: So I had to figure out I would dig — I would do a 2-foot trench. I have to line it with gravel and then do three tons of charcoal.
Dan Pashman: Three tons of charcoal. A 25-foot wok?
Jet Tila: Yeah, yeah. An army of, like, 30, 40 people having to prep all this stuff. You have to make — think about stir-fry sauce. I had to do, like, 800 pounds of stir-fry sauce.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] You also ... A lot of your work has been in sort of, like, large corporate formats.
Jet Tila: Yes, absolutely.
Dan Pashman: Cooking 20,000 meals a day for [Jet Tila: Yup.] an office or for a company. Is there something else about that kind of challenge of cooking on such a large scale that you enjoy?
Jet Tila: I love it. I mean, for me, it's always like tackling challenges. Like, how do you make authentic Asian food for people in a tech company? Like, how do you feed 20,000 people in one day, a dish that tastes just like, you know, going to your favorite Thai restaurant? So I love that kind of stuff, like taking ... Like making pad thai [Dan Pashman: Right.] for 20,000 people was a challenge. It was amazing.
Dan Pashman: And what surprised you? What's especially hard about making pad thai for 20,000 people?
Jet Tila: To mimic the heat of a wok, to get good stir-fry, you need, like, 450 degrees of consistent heat, right, in a flat vessel, in plane, flat plane, right? So, like, I don't have a wok. I need to cook probably a batch of maybe 100-500 at a time. So it's like, oh, I need to find the tilt skillet out there. Or how do you precook certain things and time it out and cook things in stages and not lose any quality or flavor? So, that stuff is hard. It's exponential, like the problem solving and I love that stuff.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: That’s Jet Tila. His new book is 101 Asian Dishes You Need To Cook Before You Die.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: And hey, did you know that you can listen to The Sporkful on the SiriusXM app? Yes, the SiriusXM app, it has all your favorite podcasts, plus over 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, plus live sports coverage. Does your podcasting app have that? Then there's interviews with A-list stars and so much more. It's everything you want in a podcast app and music app all rolled into one. And right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to SiriusXM.com/sporkful. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.
MUSIC
