Namphrik and Ngapee (1874)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sun Dec 15 01:26:49 UTC 2002


THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT:
TRAVELS, ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES IN BURMA, SIAM, CAMBODIE, AND COCHIN-CHINA
by Frank Vincent
New York:  Harper and Brothers
1874

   I read the 1884 book.  It has a 70-page supplement.  I'm sure the 1874 book is the same thing without the supplement, but I didn't have time to request it.
   OED has an 1854 "ngapee" under its entry for "balachong."  I don't know what the revised OED has planned for this "N" entry.  "Ngapee" is from Burma.


Pg. 15:  The condiment _ngapee_, for which there is a very great demand, is made of preserved fish, fish which has arrived at that epicurean stage termed "high;" it is a sort of paste which mixes with rice like the Indian sauce, _chutnee_.

Pg. 112:  We took a _chota hazree_, a little breakfast,...

Pg. 126:  ...a _prachadi_, sacred spire;...
(OED doesn't have "prachadi"?  I'm seeing it a lot in these books.  It's an architecture term--ed.)

Pg. 135:  All classes in Siam use a sauce called _namphrik_, which differes from the Burmese fish condiment _ngapee_, in that a greater variety of articles are employed in its composition; it also mixes with rice like the Indian _chutnee_, though it (Pg. 136--ed.) approximates more in appearance and flavour to this paste than does the Burmese _ngapee_.  The Siamese sauce is prepared, when all ingredients are at hand, "by bruising a quantity of red pepper in a mortar, to which are added _kapi_ (paste of shrimps and prawns), black pepper, garlic, and onions.  These being thoroughly mixed, a small quantity of brine and citron-juice is added.  Ginger, tamarinds, and gourd seeds are also employed."  That the _namphrik_ is "one of the most appetite-exciting condiments" I know myself by experience; it is also, though very hot and "high," a savoury and toothsome addition to the ordinary curry of simple meat, rice and gravy.

Pg. 267:  From the heads of the largest variety fish-oil is made, and from their bodies the condiment so highly prized by the Siamese, and styled by them _namphrik_.


(O.T. MISC.--I leave for a very long holiday trip to Kenya and Tanzania on Friday.  It's still on...I'll probably make my last Library of Congress trip of this year on Monday, when the NYPL is closed.  If you want anything, ask now--ed.)



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