This sweet marinade is from Charles Phan of Slanted Door fame. In his cookbook, Vietnamese Home Cooking, he uses it for bone-in pork chops and while that is delicious, we’ve come to love the skewers as well. Use pork shoulder cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces for maximum caramelization, which together with the crispy fat are what makes this extra special.
Lemongrass Pork Skewers off the grill
Sweet Lemongrass Marinade for Pork
makes enough marinade for 2–3 pounds of pork; adapted from VIetnamese Home Cooking by Charles Phan
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces and placed in a bowl yield after trimming and cutting, about 2 pounds for this amount of marinade
Sweet Lemongrass Marinade
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup fish sauce Red Boat
- 1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped (or substitute lemongrass paste, about ¼ cup) tender inner layers are what you want, remove fibrous outer layer; yield = 3 tablespoons per stalk, approximately
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot or onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced yield = 1.5 tablespoons
- 1 Thai chile, stemmed and finely chopped
- several twists of fresh black pepper
Serve with mint and/or Thai basil leaves, lime wedges, rice, and dipping sauce
Dipping Sauce: Nuoc Cham (recipe on ripefoodandwine, linked in instructions below)
Instructions
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Combine the sugar, fish sauce, lemongrass, shallot or onion, garlic, chile, and black pepper in a bowl and whisk until sugar dissolves.
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Place pork in a bowl, pour marinade over, and allow to marinate at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. (Optionally refrigerate overnight. Bring pork to room temperature before grilling.)
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Preheat grill and skewer the marinated pork. Cook until pork begins to caramelize and is cooked through, about 10 minutes total, internal temperature target 145°F.
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Serve with herbs, lime wedges, rice, and nuoc cham dipping sauce.
