Nem Nuong (Vietnamese Sausage)
- Total Time
- 55 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon jasmine rice
- 1tablespoon sugar
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- 2tablespoons fish sauce
- 2teaspoons pounded or very finely grated garlic
- 1pound ground pork
- Canola, grapeseed or other neutral-tasting oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
347 calories; 26 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 20 grams protein; 816 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- Step 2
Set a cast-iron pan over medium heat, and add rice. Cook, swirling and stirring constantly, until rice turns a deep golden color, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into a small heatproof bowl and allow to cool. Use a spice or coffee grinder to grind cooled rice into a fine powder.
- Step 3
Place rice powder, sugar, pepper, salt, baking powder, fish sauce and garlic in a large bowl, and stir to combine.
- Step 4
Add pork to the bowl, and using your hands, mix thoroughly for 1 full minute.
- Step 5
Heat a cast-iron pan over medium heat. Use a heaping tablespoon of pork mixture to make a small, thin sausage patty. Add a teaspoon or so of oil, and cook the patty for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Taste, and if needed, add salt or any other seasonings to the uncooked sausage mixture, and mix to combine.
- Step 6
Divide and roll the remaining sausage into 8 3-inch logs, skewering lengthwise and placing on the prepared baking sheet as you go. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to come together. (Sausages can be made ahead and covered and refrigerated or frozen at this point until ready to use.)
- Step 7
To cook, wipe out cast-iron pan, and return to medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil. When it shimmers, add sausages in a single layer, leaving space between them. Cook, rotating every 2 minutes, until browned on the surface and just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes total.
- Step 8
Drain sausages on paper towels, and serve hot.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Janet
I am amused by the "ask your butcher to add pork belly to your ground pork". I live in a state capital and I guess there is one place that I could "ask a butcher" but most of us shop in super markets where meat is packaged and in the counter. Difficult to even find anyone who works in the meat department to even cut you a certain thickness of steak never mind adding 2 0z. of pork belly to your pork.
Joe
Cornstarch will give you an entirely different effect. It has no taste and is used chiefly as a binder and thickener. The rice powder will also bind, however the toasting adds a wonderful nutty flavor. It's worth the extra step.
Babs
Then do it yourself, Janet. Buy some pork belly and put it in your food processor and pulse just until it's chopped. Don't overdo it or you'll have a pasty mess. Just pulse, check, pulse again, check. Easy.
cheching
No need for additional kosher salt, there’s more than enough sodium in the fish sauce. Also, white pepper is preferred in Asian cooking.
Carol
If you're grinding your own pork belly, cut it into cubes, place in freezer for an hour or two before grinding in a food processor .This keeps the fat and meat from softening into a gluey mess when grinding it.
twwren
I believe if you toast rice flour in a dry skillet, it will impart a nutty aroma.
Flora
OUTSTANDING. Don’t change a thing. I grilled it which worked as well as in the oven
Suzanne F
I wasn't sure of the fat content of my ground pork, so to a little more than 1 pound pork I added 2 slices of thick-cut bacon, minced in the mini food processor, and increased other ingredients proportionally. If any smokiness came through, it was pretty subtle. Ate the first of them in almost-banh mi: toasted hero rolls; sriracha mayo; quick-pickled cucumber, carrot, turnip, jalapeño; fresh herbs; baloney (not pâté). Sausages were excellent! Froze the rest for another time.
kitchenonfire
I added one heaped teaspoon of garlic chili paste to the sausage and then fried it up in a heavy skillet. Then served these as the protein in a noodle bowl with lots of finely chopped vegetables, a few shrimp, and a sesame/ginger dressing. The chili paste made a big difference. The meal was wonderful.
Charlotte
I used ground pork from the supermarket meat case because that's what I had. The cooked sausages had a strange and rubbery texture. The seasonings where mild for my tastes. I'll make them again with more attention to the fat/lean ratio and some minced herbs added to the meat mix.
cheching
NO, toasting rice FLOUR will not give you the same thing as toasted rice POWDER. The former is more finely milled, while the latter is much grittier.
Chris
What is the baking sheet with the parchment paper for?
Alex
What am I skewering the logs on? A regular metal rod? How about a lemongrass stalk?
Janet
I am amused by the "ask your butcher to add pork belly to your ground pork". I live in a state capital and I guess there is one place that I could "ask a butcher" but most of us shop in super markets where meat is packaged and in the counter. Difficult to even find anyone who works in the meat department to even cut you a certain thickness of steak never mind adding 2 0z. of pork belly to your pork.
Babs
Then do it yourself, Janet. Buy some pork belly and put it in your food processor and pulse just until it's chopped. Don't overdo it or you'll have a pasty mess. Just pulse, check, pulse again, check. Easy.
Carol
If you're grinding your own pork belly, cut it into cubes, place in freezer for an hour or two before grinding in a food processor .This keeps the fat and meat from softening into a gluey mess when grinding it.
Jon
Janet, Pork belly is readily available. Most grocery stores have butchers or meat cutters. They can give you ideas of where to go if they are unable to help you, if you go to a supermarket who has a butcher that can not/will not cut you a crrtain size steak then I would suggest shopping around for a different grocer ..
cheching
No need for additional kosher salt, there’s more than enough sodium in the fish sauce. Also, white pepper is preferred in Asian cooking.
Figaro
All of the sausages in this article sound wonderful. For the Vietnamese sausages, how necessary is the use of rice powder? Could cornstarch or another substance be used?
Joe
Cornstarch will give you an entirely different effect. It has no taste and is used chiefly as a binder and thickener. The rice powder will also bind, however the toasting adds a wonderful nutty flavor. It's worth the extra step.
Gustus
This reply/question is really for Joe: what about using rice flour?
Charlene
Gustus, rice flour also will not have the nutty flavor of rice powder. You can buy ground rice powder in most Asian markets if you don't have a grinder to make your own.
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