‘A Recipe That Will Hopefully Become a Permanent Staple of Your Cooking Life’
Consider the Cambodian-inspired grilled pork chop
Just because sweater season is upon us doesn’t mean you still can’t fire up the grill. I’ll welcome any excuse I can to cook over a fire, be it summer or winter.
Consider this weekend project: I want to shower some praise on a recipe that will hopefully become a permanent staple of your cooking life, or at the very least a highlight of your weekend.
It’s a dish based on a Cambodian staple called bai sach chrouk: marinated, grilled pork served with pickled vegetables and rice. It’s traditionally cooked over charcoal by roadside vendors and is served for breakfast — I’d eat this over bacon and eggs 10 times out of 10 — but it’s good any time of day.
There are two components to this dish, the pickles and the pork (rice not included; I trust you). They’re perfect when served together, but, of course, can also be treated separately. The pickles are julienned carrots, cucumbers, daikon, jalapeño, and ginger submerged in a cooled-down brine of vinegar, salt, and sugar. You want them to sit in the fridge for at least three hours, but they’ll keep their crunch for up to four or five days.
