Grilled Pork. And Plenty of It.

We're in Chiang Mai. And this is what we had for our second lunch on Monday.

According to our local guide Fern it's the city's best grilled pig (an opinion seconded by our fellow eater, a pretty fervent pork fan herself).

 

Our porky feast was cooked up by a mother-daughter team (spitting images of each other, don't you think?) on the stretch of Muang Samut Road just south of Dalat Kamthieng, the city's large plant and flower market. They're there Sunday through Saturday (mom occasionally takes a day off -- "When I feel tired") from 10am to 6pm, except for when they sell out by 3pm, which according to our friend Fern is pretty often.

 

If you look closely you'll see that mom has her nostrils plugged with wads of tissue paper. For good reason -- she's continuously wreathed in a swirl of roasting porcine fog. A lovely thing to immerse yourself in for about a minute, after which it starts to sting the eyes and the back of the throat. Thus the wads of tissue paper.

As customers we could dip in and dip out of the fog, visiting mom and her smoking grill to order a bit of this and a bit of that. We started with some plain old sliced pork -- not sure which part of the animal -- that was sublime in its simplicity.

Much of the grilled pork you might get on the street here has been marinated in fish sauce and sugar. Don't get me wrong -- it's a great and tasty thing when that sugar caramelizes on the meat and does a sweet little duel in your mouth with the fish sauce's saltiness. But sometimes you just want to taste the meat, unadulterated. That's just what mom's grilled pork delivers.

 

The meat is fatty and the skin impeccably crisped. Before slicing up our serving she tapped a piece with her tongs - tock, tock, tock -- to demonstrate how crispy the skin was.

She's precise with her cleaver. There's no hacking going on here -- she slices it up just so. I suspect she'd tell you that the way you slice the meat affects the way your tongue receives, and tastes, it. (If she wouldn't tell you that, I would.)

Our pork was served with a classic dried chili-tamarind-sugar dip. I can't think of a better way to cut through, and at the same time complement, a tender and unctuously fatty piece of meat than with tartness and a pinch of heat.

Our virgin foray into the land of mom's grilled pork past, we moved onto muu nam tok ('waterfall' pork -- so named, I was once told by my Thai teacher, for the way the meat's fat falls like water onto the coals below as it cooks). Perfectly executed, it featured more of that stunning grilled pig, plentiful mint and cilantro leaves, finely sliced red onion, dried chili, and lots of roasted rice powder. After we'd finished the meat the roasted rice was a delicious, saucy sludge in the bottom of the plate -- ready to be scooped up with bits of sticky rice.

 

We thought we were done. It was our second lunch, after all.

But Fern ordered up some khaw muu yang or grilled pork neck (a cut from the animal that is seriously underrated in the US; once a celebrity chef figures out how great it is I predict Pork Neck Everything will sweep the country the way Beef Cheek Everything did years ago) -- more wonderfully crispy, with its intact skin, than even our first slices of pork -- and somtam (green papaya salad).

Mom farang-ized the latter a bit (we couldn't find a single chili) but it was a minor misstep when taken in consideration with the overall greatness of the meal.

 

She'll have the opportunity to make it up when we return. We're dying to try the grilled pig intestines (opening photo). And the catfish looks pretty darned good too.

Grilled pork stall, Muang Samut Road just south of the plant market (Dalat Kamthien). It will be on the left side of the street as you approach the plant market. Look for a smokin' stall and a couple of tables under a tree.

Comments

[Tangled Noodle]

Between your words and David's photos, I'm now deep in the throes of craving. The sunshine hitting the plates - beautiful!

[Chef E]

Beautiful! Wish I was there to learn...

[Jencrafted]

This is killing me! Now, short of hopping on the next flight to Thailand, where can I find such well-executed porky treats here in the Bay Area??

Great photos, as always.

[Angie Pham]

the pork looks amazingly delicious! im so jealous. =)

[Mrs. L]

That top photo had me drooling...then I got to this line: "The meat is fatty and the skin impeccably crisped". Don't think I've ever read a more beautiful sentence!

[woofday]

we r off to Thailand in 3 days and now really hope we can find that crispy pork, nice info, u got us drooling on our keyboard!

[miranda]

oh my.....
I wish I could jump threw this screen

[J2Kfm]

Great shots. Agree that pork neck is not famous in most parts, even here in Malaysia. But I've had tasty ones in Hong Kong before, unbelievably tender and smooth, without any fats.

[foodbin]

i prefer the pig's cheek-crisp with a layer of fats-wow!

[the lacquer spoon]

Hmm...irresistible! I can't help but dining out at a Thai restaurant nearby this weekend.

[Jess]

I'm starting to regret the decision not to go to Thailand in April in favor of more travel in China. This looks fantastic.

[Magdalena]

Hello ! I read this blog quite often...Great images, and I this dish looks fantastic. I will try to prepare it as soon as I will visit a food store in Chinese quarter in Paris!

[Robyn]

Tangled Noodle -- it's all about the light and this time of the year it's hard to go wrong in Chiang Mai!

Jencrafted - hopefully someone will jump in with a recommendation.

Mrs. L - thank you! And it tasted as good as that sentence sounds. :-)

woofday - pick up a Nancy Chandler map -- the plant market is clearly marked and so is Muang Samut Road.

J2kfm - never had pork neck before we moved to Bangkok in 2002. I'd have to say it's now one of my favorite parts of the pig.

foodbin - mmm, imagine pig cheek on the BBQ.

Jess - I don't think you'll suffer in China. And if you're in Yunnan you can get something very close to N Thai food, I'd imagine.

magdalena - thanks for commenting, and reading!

[valentina]

I love this site.This is my first visit to your blog and I find it fabulous.

[Robyn]

Hi Valentina - Welcome! We're glad you found us. Thanks for reading.

[Lina]

This looks delicious but I think I'd prefer more carbs! Some of these all meat meals make me dizzy after a while.

I've never had success in cooking juicy pork with a crisp skin--or much success cooking pork, period. If you work out a recipe, let me know.

I'm in Melaka now and going down the list of EatingAsia recommendations.

[Robyn]

Hi Lina, we had sticky rice so carbs were not lacking. And the green papaya salad and herb basket (with cabbage and long beans) added freshness. So it was quite a balanced meal (the plates were small, too -- just right split between 4 pple).
I've done quite well cooking very thick-cut pork chops with a quick sear on both sides in a hot pan and then finishing in the oven.
It's been a couple yrs now since we were in Melaka. Hope our recommendations still hold water. Happy eating!

[Lina]

Mmm...sounds perfect. I do find that when I eat street food every day I sometimes don't eat as many vegetables as my mother would wish for me!

I can't wait to get home one of these days and start trying to cook all of this.

And Melaka was a great recommendation! I started today with chicken rice balls and am going for an early morning laksa tomorrow. After that it's off to KL--I'm not sure how to pick between everything you have posted. Do you have a top 10? I think I will be there for 4-5 days.

[Jane]

I always got a thing with foods found beside the streets. Although I'm skeptical whether they are completely safe, I still can't help but try them out. There's always an excitement every time I see these kinds of foods. I just love to eat them and satisfy my taste buds.

[Ashlee]

mmm this looks heavenly!

[Lina]

Sorry, I just found your top 10. Der.