[4][page needed] There has never been a special corpus of Khmer royal cuisine with specific codes, ingredients and decorum like in the case of Japanese yūsoku ryōri [jp] or Thai chaowang.
[7] In the 1800s, Khmer palaces had separate kitchens for preparing desserts and snack foods, and it was done by wives, concubines and female members of the inner court.
[10] Following Theravāda's principles of restraint and frugality, King of Cambodia Ang Duong expected mostly vegetarian and simple meals to be served in his court in Oudong and even forbade the consumption of alcohol by his ministers.
[5] In the French protectorate of Cambodia, Khmer palace specifications stated that the food should be prepared only with butter and not fat, a diverse and plentiful selection of fruits should be provided and only the highest quality coffee and tea is to be served.
In 1932, during the high season, the Khmer palace staff included a head chef of European origin, two cooks, a pastry chef-baker and six waiters.
[11] It has been said that the work done by the cooks of the royal palace and of the aristocracy of Phnom Penh during the first half of the 20th century reflected the same capacity for taking pains and using highly developed techniques which had been displayed by the builders of Angkor Wat, Cambodia's most famous monument, in the distant past.
Together with American Women's Club, she also wrote the first Cambodian cookbook and after going into exile following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia continued preparing Khmer dishes for the king, his entourage and guests.
Princess Rasmi Sobhana, on the other hand, was known for her sophisticated presentation of simple dishes that often broke away from the traditionally strict format of royal cuisine, experimenting with carving fruit and vegetables and arrangements on different shape, size and color plates, in what she saw as more modern.
For instance, royal recipes often incorporate lavish elements like giant prawns and crab meat, which were considered too extravagant for everyday cooking.
Its recipe features a complex blend of spices, including cloves, coriander seeds and roots, cinnamon, cardamom, lemongrass, dried chilies, galangal, kaffir lime, shallots, and garlic.