cook: vietnamese grilled pork

When people ask what I did this summer, I'll reply I stayed home. But it's been a creative home stay. I thought I finished this crib quilt top, but upon looking at it, it needs another row. Probably two more rows to look balanced. And I think I've plenty of blue fat eighths to get it done. I also started a 10" square potholder in beach colors, and that's turning out to be an improvisational project. Maybe I'll get a potholder finished this weekend. 

  

I’d also been craving Vietnamese sandwiches and rice noodle bowls, and so I bought boneless spare ribs, which is basically pork shoulder. The recipe I found was very simple: brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, chopped onion (I used shallot), minced garlic (I used the rest of pureed spring garlic in my fridge), a stalk of lemon grass (I used from a tube I bought at the supermarket), black pepper mixed to form a marinade. I then cut the ribs into bite-sized pieces, which I combined with the marinade.     

 

Easy peasy. The bowl of meat then went into the fridge until grilling time.

I told my neighbor, Cecilia to come over for dinner because she loves bahn mi sandwiches. I had pork belly frying in the cast iron and my mise en place all ready while I grilled.

My husband told me that he ate the bahn mi sandwich which I cooked for a neighbor's birthday party, so why did I think he didn't like them? I had told him I was going to grill a steak for him. Sigh. Alrighty then. I'll make them again for another dinner, but I'll use bolilo instead of French rolls which are smaller. Patrick also asked me to grill his squash harvest.

Cecilia thought it fancy that I skewered all the pork, but I was barbecuing it over charcoal and being on sticks makes it easier to cook than in a grill pan though that's an idea too--to cook it in my cast iron over the briquets to prevent the fat from dripping on the coals and burning the meat. However, despite the over caramelization, the pork was delicious.

This protein will make for more delicious sandwiches and rice noodle bowls. I wonder if Patrick will eat rice noodle bowls too. If I don't tell him that fish sauce is in the dressing, or tell him afterward that nuoc cham is fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and birds eye chilies when he's already eaten it, he will no longer be averse to Vietnamese food. Today the kiln gods will be delivering me pots, and I've got this soap dish to put on the green ware shelf. I'm either going to adhere rice decals or paint marine blue stripes using tape resist on it.

Finally I've been getting some successful slip casts. It's a day for more slip casting (I'll make more Japanese tea cups, soap dishes, bud vases and a summer squash vase from a mold I made years ago) and glazing (obsidian bisque salad plates! porcelain salad plates too!).