It’s hard to believe that when I first made Vietnamese Caramelized Pork almost four years ago in China, I had the hardest time finding fish sauce. Beijing locals know what they like to cook at home, and it’s not Cantonese or Southeast Asian. (Regional culinary borders are much stronger in China than they are here, so even wonton wrappers or thinner dumpling wrappers were available in only a handful of markets.) Luckily, finding fish sauce is much easier to find in my neighborhood in Park Slope, whose fish markets and Korean-run bodegas stock fish sauce now and then. (Being a short subway ride from Sunset Park helps too.)
Here’s a revised version of the caramelized pork recipe I first posted on December 28, 2007. Updates include more braising liquid and a longer simmering time for more fork-tender, melty pork. I’ve remade this over the years with both pork shoulder and pork belly, and both are phenomenal with this caramelized sauce. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
I never thought I would have trouble finding fish sauce in China. Growing up, many of the Cantonese dishes my mother cooked contained fish sauce. In New York’s and Boston’s Chinatowns, Squid Sauce and other varieties of nam pla were staples in every market.
Even though fish sauce is hardly used in northern Chinese cooking, I didn’t think it would be hard to find in Beijing. Even if Thai, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian cuisines aren’t too popular here, various Cantonese dishes aren’t hard to find. But of the 3 supermarkets in my neighborhood, none carried it. I then scoured the Lotus Center in Wudaokou, thinking that with the neighborhood’s large Korean population the supermarket must carry all sorts of fish sauce.
Well, I did find it, but not in the sauce aisle. Rather, there was just one kind, amongst imported goods like mirin and shochu. Guangdong province really is like another country.
With fish sauce in hand, I was able to try the Vietnamese Caramelized Pork recipe I found in the NYTimes. It’s a good recipe except that it calls for 1/4 cup of fish sauce. That is madness. The point of fish sauce is to use just enough to bring out the dish’s other flavors. After much trial and error (and finding out how poor my apartment’s ventilation is), I’ve found that 1 tablespoon in this recipe is the perfect amount for highlighting the flavors, while sparing your kitchen from fish sauce overdose.
A fair warning: the pork turns such a beautiful rich brown color, and is so tempting in the pot, I had to remember to wait for it to fully cook to taste.
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Vietnamese Caramelized Pork (Thit kho to)
Adapted from The New York Times
Serves 4
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 pound pork belly or boneless pork shoulder (skinless or skin-on), cut-into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large shallots, chopped
- 1 scallion, green part only, thinly sliced
- Rice for serving.
1. Line the bottom of a medium- to large-sized sauce pot with one cup sugar. Place the pot over low heat. When the sugar melts and becomes amber-colored, add the water and fish sauce. (Don’t worry if the sugar hardens upon contact with water; it will re-melt as it cooks, forming a sauce.) Add the pork and stir until coated. Raise the heat to medium low.
2. Add the salt. Simmer on medium-low heat for 25 minutes. Be sure to keep this at the lowest simmer possible for a more tender fished product.
3. Stir in shallots and and cook until translucent, another 5 to 7 minutes. The sauce should now be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If that’s not the case, turn the heat up a little and simmer for another 5 minutes until the sauce is further reduced.
4. Transfer to a deep serving dish and sprinkle the scallions on top. Serve with rice and/or other sides.
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Other Asian pork recipes to try:
- Red-Cooked Pork
- Japanese Braised Pork Belly
- Pork Adobo
- Twice-Cooked Pork
- Cantonese Roast Pork (Char Siu)
- Grilled Pork with Vermicelli Noodles from Une-Deux Senses
- Tonkatsu from No Recipes
- Vietnamese Braised Pork with Hard-Boiled Eggs from Wandering Chopsticks
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Holy crap, you’re right.. 3 years in China and i’ve never had the need for fish sauce until I decided to try this recipe.. having almost brought some kind of sauce FOR fish.. aptly called “Fish Sauce” i finally found some Thai stuff amongst the imported food.
That just looks amazing, and thank you for the hunger pains now thank goodness its lunch time
Just have to say thanks for a wonderful recipe was a mission trying to find fish sauce, but was worth it.
Just can across your site looking for pork recipes and found this going to be adding it to my collection.
Will certainly try this at ny next catering event.
Just wanted to say thanks for your modified version of this great recipe. I used fish sauce sparingly and didn’t stink my kitchen out too much. First time cooked this and I think my gas stove is a bit strong, so the meat was over cooked, but the flavour and the taste is still absolutely superb for such an easy recipe. Five thumbs up!!
Now I know why I like this dish so much, it’s because of the sugar. Recently discovered this at the Vietnamese deli counter of the grocery store here in Seattle. It’s similar to Hawaiian/Chinese style sweet n sour spareribs but has distinct taste of fish sauce. I wondered why my kitchen was smelling like fish and realized it was from reheating leftovers in microwave lol
Thought I would throw my 2 cents in.
Really, 1/4 cup of fish sauce is not that much. I’m not a huge fan of fish, and the sauce smells nasty uncooked, but with the sugar and shallots it really turns into an amazing flavor.
I have made this recipe a few times now, http://dirtysugarcookies.blogspot.com/2007/01/vietnamese-spare-ribs-with-caramel.html
Which uses basically the same ratios, though less sugar and the sauce always comes out amazing.
Can I use brown sugar in this recipe when it calls for sugar?
Thanks for the recipe. But I add a little cinnamon stick for another layer of flavor.
I recall pork made with cinnamom and star anise by some Cantonese in Singapore.
Oh yes, instead of sugar, it’s made richer with brown sugar.
this is delicious. i added some chilli flakes to give some heat to balance the sweetness. definately have it again
A few drops – madness. Fish sauce provides the salt and quickly cooks down.
Remove added salt, use fish sauce.
Sesame oil does not cook well and should only be added after things have cooked as a flavour.
Some ginger would be a good option.
This reminds me of the amazing spicy Vietnamese chicken wings at Pok Pok in Portland. They are to die for (seriously, so very delicious!) and contain equal amounts of sugar and fish sauce. The Recipe was in Food & Wine and the chef also made the wings on Diners Drive-ins and Dives (don’t let that put you off though!)
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/ikes-vietnamese-fish-sauce-wings-cocktails-2008 has the recipe, but watch the 3D episode (it’s on youtube) to see how they’re really made!
That’s one of my favorite dishes, it’s actually very delicious using coconut water in place of the water (maybe reduce the sugar a bit) and making it with more liquid if you’d like cooking it together with hard boiled egg. By doing that I think it becomes “Thit Heo Kho Trung” thanks for sharing this variation of it :)
Um… the recipe calls for “1/2 sugar.”
One half what?
Cup seems like the most reasonable amount. But you might want to specify for those (like me) who are confused.
Max – Yes, you’re right, it’s 1/2 cup sugar. The typo has been fixed. Sorry for the confusion!
This was a delicious recipe!!! I made a couple of adjustments per the ingredients I had on hand. I used a few straggling leaves of broccoli, arugula, and collard greens which were about to expire in my garden in place of the shallots, and I used Japanese Flat Noodles in place of the rice to simulate a Vientamese dish I had at a restaurant. Wow! I was so happy with how the pork was tender, soft and flavorful! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. (I also used 1/4 tsp of salt just because it seemed easier to add salt than to remove it, and I didn’t seem to miss the other 1/4 tsp.)
S.Schmidt – That’s a good idea to use flat noodles…I bet they soaked up the caramel sauce really well!
Made this last night. The sauce that it cooks down into is absolutely heaven, but I found the entire effect a bit too sweet. I think next time I would reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup, or perhaps use in a sandwich with other ingredients, maybe something pickled, to offset the sweet.
Thanks for the recipe! :)