The Pork Cut Swap That Makes Your Lemongrass Pork Beat Any Restaurant's

Vietnamese lemongrass pork chops are an iconic Southeast Asian dish, bringing together that famous flavor balance of sweet, sour, and peppery. It's standard at any Vietnamese restaurant and is easy to replicate at home — savory pork marinated in salty oyster and fish sauces with black pepper, bright bursts of lemongrass, and honey, and then maybe a touch of smoke from the grill. The only drawback is lemongrass pork tends to be dry or overcooked at a lot of restaurants. So, when you make it at home, do yourself a favor and don't use pork chops for the dish. Instead, switch to a different, more succulent and fat-laced cut for lemongrass pork that'll outshine the restaurant version.

Swap pork shoulder for pork chops when you're making lemongrass pork, and you'll enjoy a meal that's much more tender, moist, and flavorful. It's a cheaper cut of meat, so you'll end up spending less on the protein for dinner. Plus, pork shoulder looks stunning on a platter, especially alongside a plate of spring rolls with homemade Thai peanut sauce and a Vietnamese mojito.

Fat draws flavor into the pork shoulder and keeps the meat juicy

Compared to pork chops, the shoulder cut has more fat, which helps better soak in all those sweet, salty, zesty flavors as it marinates. Cooking time does vary drastically, though, between grilling up sliced pork chops and a whole pork shoulder. Chops take around 10 minutes to cook on the grill, a shoulder can take 1 ½ to 2 hours. So, for faster grilling, slice a marinated pork shoulder into 1-inch pork steaks that will be more marbled than chops and will be juicier and more flavorful when they're done.

A whole pork loin cooked on the grill, low and slow, really does wonders for the texture of the pork. It's tender, and the flavor-infused fat will melt into the meat, locking in moisture under a beautiful, brown crust. Use this method if you're looking to wow a crowd and wait to slice it until the last minute, so all that juice and flavor stays in the meat as long as possible. And put a vibrant carrot ribbon salad on the table alongside those spring rolls for a pop of color and crunch.

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