Caramelized Vietnamese Fatty Pork

(Thit Kho)

This has to be my all-time favourite dish. I never get tired of the succulent pork and its amazing sauce! Great with white rice, I have grown up with this and it always reminds me of home and family.

 

Fatty Belly pork is used for this dish. It's important to briefly dip the pork in cold water to wash away any preservatives on the surface of the meat. In the UK, we find that the pork has a slight 'ammonia' smell. Once clean, slice the pork into equal sizes with a sharp knife.

The five layers of fat/lean pork is perfect for our dish. It looks great and each bite will be perfect. Too much fat and it will be too filling. Too much lean meat and each bite will be too dry.

Place 8 tbsp of brown sugar in a pan and turn the heat on high. Watch the sugar as you do not want it to burn. When the sugar is melted, swirl it around to prevent burning. Then add around 8 tbsp of boiling water to the pan.

Stir the sugar and the water and make sure you get any remaining sugar stuck on the side. Take the pan off the stove and carefully pour about 80-90% of the mixture into a jar for storage. We can use the stored caramel mixture to make more fatty pork in the future.

 

Now add the pork to the caramalized sugar. Add fish sauce and mix well. Once marinated, place back onto the stove on medium/high heat. Let the pork and caramel cook until the pork is nice and brown (approximately 10 minutes). Add sliced cloves of garlic, two chillis and ground pepper to the pork. Cover and leave to simmer for a few minutes. When you start smelling the wonderful flavours, add boiling water to the pork until you almost cover all the meat. Let it come to a boil then turn down the heat and leave to simmer for another 10-15 minutes or until the pork is fully cooked. Serve with white rice.