I sometimes worry that I publish too many pork recipes but hey, pork equals meat in the Vietnamese kitchen! Despite all the shaking beef (thit bo luc lac) and beef pho noodle soup that you've eaten, it's pork that rules. It's cheap and tasty meat, affordable to most Vietnamese cooks. And, you can do a zillion things with pork. The photo above is from my trip to Australia, where I went to Cabramatta -- their Little Saigon. The man is doing a morning delivery to a local Vietnamese butcher shop. (Where'd the head go???)
One of my go-to Vietnamese preparations of pork is to marinate pork steaks (photo below) with lemongrass and grill them. Sliced up, the steaks are great bun rice noodles, tucked into a banh mi sandwich, and punches up a bowl of fluffy rice.
This morning, I discovered that CHOW.com enjoys the thit heo nuong xa as much as I do. There was a call for people to name their top 5 best recipes for 2009. My little Vietnamese restaurant-style grilled lemongrass pork recipe was among the writer's top 5 picks. When it's too cold now to cook outdoors, use a stovetop cast-iron grill. The timing will be a little longer.
What a nice way to wrap up 2009! Enjoy.
