Vietnamese BBQ Pork- “Suon Nuong” Recipe + Video
This is popular traditional Vietnamese dish, Suon Nuong, is typically served sliced up in a rice noodle bowl with fish sauce, aka “bun cha”, and sometimes served as with rice “Com Suon Nuong”. This recipe is my dad’s and it’s more indicative of North Vietnamese style. The secret here is how my dad uses honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the pork marinade. The cinnamon powder helps enhance the aromatic flavor and the honey adds a touch of sweetness and helps add color and caramelizes the edges of the pork.
Sauce’y tip: save the juices meat marinade and simmer for a few minutes, reserve the sauce, and brush mid grilling or cooking and/or lather on upon plating for extra sticky & saucy pork chops🤤!
Tip: My dad likes to add a couple tbs of whiskey as well which helps enhance the flavor while also helping to tenderize the skin.
Using quality fresh cracked black pepper also helps enhance the flavor as well as a quality fish sauce.
*Make sure pork chops are cooked by using a thermometer, interior meat should be at least 145 degrees to be properly cooked.
*Don’t throw out the marinade, you can use it to brush on extra sauce mid-grilling, OR you pour the leftover marinade in a pan and bring it to a boil for a few minutes (you can brush this over the meat after they’re done for a nice saucy glaze!
OPTIONAL “NUOC MAM” DIPPING SAUCE
Nuoc Mam Cham
See recipe -here-.
INGREDIENTS
2-3 lbs thin cut pork chops
PORK MARINADE
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp vegetable powder
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 tsp honey
5 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs vegetable oil
Optional: 2 tbs whiskey (or rum) & green scallion (bottom parts only)
PREPARATION
1. Wash pork with 1 tbs vinegar with 3-4 tbs white vinegar. Soak for a minute or two then rub off any grit from bones/steaks and transfer to another bowl. Wash under running water and pat dry.
2. In a large bowl add all marinade ingredients and mix with a fork until evenly mixed and all salt/sugar dissolves.
3. Tenderize pork (see video, smash knife into pork), if pork chops have fat rings around the pork chops, cut a few slits into it so that the steaks don’t curl up when cooking.
4. Hand dip all pork chops one by one and place into a separate bowl or dish and marinate for 2-3 hours (or overnight for best results). When ready to cook, take out meat 45 min prior to grilling and place on a grill sheet pan to drain off excess marinade. Let meat come to room temperature.
*Don’t throw out the marinade, you can use it to brush on extra sauce mid-grilling, OR you pour the leftover marinade in a pan and bring it to a boil for a few minutes (you can brush this over the meat after they’re done for a nice saucy glaze!
We grilled these on a gas grill as per below, depending on the thickness and size of your steaks it may cook faster/longer:
Turn up grill to high until your grill gets up to like 375 degrees. Turn off one side of your grill and place pork chops on that side and and grill for about 3-5 min on each side (placing over direct flames can cause pork chops to catch on fire). The trick here is to not to continuously flip these bad boys. You are literally only flipping them once on the grill, one side at 3-5 min and flip over and grill for another 3-5 min, by doing this you will get nice even charred marks. (PS- your meat is done when internal meat temperature is 145 degrees).
OR fry in Pan: Heat about a couple tbs of oil in pan on high heat in cast iron skillet (just enough oil to cover the bottom of pan). Wait till oil is thin and glossy then pan fry pork chops on high until meat is cooked through and golden brown (about 5 min, 3-4 min on each side (possibly longer) depending on how thick your pork chops are).
Garnish: Finish off with some fresh scallions for color and serve with a side of fish dipping sauce and a bowl of hot jasmine rice!