Bún Thịt Nướng (Vietnamese Grilled Pork)

This is a delicious and easy-to-make pork dish. There’s no real trick to making it, other than being sure to use pork tenderloin and not to skip making the nước chấm dipping sauce.

I departed a bit from the traditional dish by using basic rice noodles instead of the thinner rice vermicelli. A move I’d repeat, as the thicker noodles have more bite to them.

Please note that the recipe works best when the pork is marinated for at least 12 hours.

What you’ll need for the pork marinade

• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 1T palm sugar
• 0.75t black pepper
• 2T fish sauce
• 1T Chinese rice wine, mirin or sake
• 2T peanut or similar oil (not olive)

What you’ll need for the pork and serving it

• 1 lb pork tenderloin, silverskin removed and thinly sliced
• Rice noodles or rice vermicelli, cooked
• Crushed peanuts
• Chili crisp (optional, for the noodles)
• Nước chấm (dipping sauce)

What you’ll need for the nước chấm

• 125g (4 oz) palm sugar (other sugars work, in a pinch)
• 250ml (8 fl oz) hot water
• 125ml (4 fl oz) fish sauce
• 60ml (2.5 fl oz) lime juice
• 3 Thai chilis (red or green) stemmed and finely chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced

What to do for the nước chấm

Put the sugar in a bowl and pour the hot water over it, stirring it well until the sugar is completely dissolved. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and let the mixture cool to room temperature, before using. Unused nước chấm can be covered and refrigerated for a week.

What to do for the pork

Make the marinade by combining all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the pork slices to the bowl (or use a gallon-size freezer bag for the pork and marinade) and marinade the pork overnight in the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to cook, prep your grill or broiler. Thread the pork slices onto pre-soaked skewers folded or zig-zagged (see photos).

Grill or broil the skewers about 3 – 5 minutes on each side, until fully cooked.

Serve the skewers over noodles with the peanuts, chili crisp and nước chấm.