Recipe: Vietnamese THỊT NƯỚNG (CARAMELIZED GRILLED PORK)

The traditional way of making thit nuong is to cut the meat into 2-3 inch strips, then marinade the meat and grill it in between two wire baskets over a charcoal grill. The marinade consists of caramelized sugar syrup (nuoc mau) and fish sauce, two cooking essentials in the Vietnamese kitchen.

The fish sauce is very salty (and a bit smelly), but it has a lot of flavor. I often add a few dashes to my chicken, pork, and shrimp instead of salt and a little bit of sugar to get the protein crispy.

There are a bunch of traditional Vietnamese dishes where thit nuong is included, but here are a few of my favorites:
• Rice with grilled meat (‘com thit nuong’ as seen on the top picture)
• The Vietnamese sandwich (banh mi thit nuong)
• Angel hair rice noodles with grilled pork, served with lettuce for wrapping (banh hoi thit heo nuong)

As a city-dweller I am not privileged to have a garden with an outdoor grill, so unfortunately I have to make this in my oven. For this I use pork chops, which are on the more fatty side. If you do have a charcoal grill, you can make it the traditional way and use pork butt or shoulder instead.

Recipe: Vietnamese THỊT NƯỚNG (CARAMELIZED GRILLED PORK)

Recipe by 2 Hungry Birds – Tina Course: DinnerCuisine: Vietnam

Servings

4

servings

The traditional way of making thit nuong is to cut the meat into 2-3 inch strips, then marinade the meat and grill it in between two wire baskets over a charcoal grill. The marinade consists of caramelized sugar syrup (nuoc mau) and fish sauce, two cooking essentials in the Vietnamese kitchen.

Ingredients

US Metric

• 2 lbs 2 900 grams) pork chops (or 1 ½ lbs. (680 grams) pork butt or shoulder, thinly sliced to about ¼ inch thick)

• ¼ cup ¼ (60 ml) lemongrass, minced

• ¼ cup ¼ (60 ml) sugar

• 1 tablespoon 1 ground pepper

• 2 tablespoons 2 fish sauce

• 3 tablespoons 3 sesame oil

• 3 3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

• 3 3 small shallots, minced

• 1 tablespoon 1 nuoc mau (Vietnamese caramel syrup)

Directions

• Prepare the marinade with the above ingredients and coat the meat to marinade for at least 1-2 hours or for more enhanced taste the day before.
• For oven: Set the oven to broil or grill and place the meat on a grilling rack right under the heating element. Broil/grill a few minutes on each side.
  For charcoal grill: lay out the meat in between two wire baskets and grill for a few minutes on each side.