Thịt Kho Tàu

the Tết braise of the southern Vietnamese household: pork belly and whole eggs simmered for hours in caramel, fish sauce, and coconut water until the fat turns translucent and the sauce is mahogany

Origin: Southern Vietnam

From the journey of Star Anise.

Thịt kho tàu is the dish of Tết, the lunar new year, and it is made in enormous pots in southern Vietnamese households in the days before the holiday. The reason is practical as much as ceremonial: it improves for several days, it needs no attention once made, and it feeds a stream of visitors during a period when nobody wants to cook. Families reheat the same pot each morning, and by the third or fourth day it is at its best. Kho is the great Vietnamese braising technique, in which a dark caramel is made from sugar, taken almost to burning, and then let down with fish sauce and liquid. That caramel does everything: it gives the colour, it balances the salt of the fish sauce, and it supplies a faint bitterness that keeps the dish from being merely sweet. Taking the caramel far enough is the one genuinely difficult step, and the commonest fault is stopping too early, which gives a pale, cloying result. The whole eggs are not a garnish. Boiled, peeled, and simmered in the braise, they take on the colour and flavour through their surface and become one of the two things people reach for. The coconut water is the traditional liquid throughout the south, faintly sweet and slightly saline. Star anise sits underneath all of it, one or two stars in the pot, doing what it does in every long pork braise: cutting the fat and giving the sauce a resinous depth. Vietnamese cooks are restrained with it here compared with a bò kho, because the caramel and fish sauce are already assertive and the spice is meant to be felt rather than identified.

Ingredients

Pork

1 kg pork belly, skin on, in 4 cm cubes

Braise

8 whole eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
5 tbsp fish sauce
700 ml coconut water
2 whole star anise
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 whole shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
2 whole red chillies, left whole (optional)
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Caramel

4 tbsp caster sugar, for the caramel
2 tbsp water, for the caramel

To serve

1 portion steamed rice and pickled bean sprouts, to serve

Method

Blanch the pork cubes in boiling water for three minutes, drain, and rinse under cold water.
Toss the pork with the shallots, garlic, pepper, and two tablespoons of the fish sauce, and leave for 20 minutes.
Make the caramel: heat the sugar and water in the braising pot over a medium heat without stirring until it turns a deep amber, the colour of dark tea, and just begins to smoke.
Add the oil and the pork at once and stir to coat, standing back as it spits.
Add the remaining fish sauce, the coconut water, and the star anise. Bring to a simmer, skim, then cover and cook very gently for 1 hour.
Add the peeled eggs and the whole chillies, and cook uncovered for a further 45 minutes to an hour, until the sauce has reduced by half and the pork fat is translucent.
Taste and adjust with a little fish sauce or sugar, and serve with steamed rice and something sharp and pickled.

Notes

Star anise is restrained here on purpose: two stars, not five, because the caramel and fish sauce are already loud and the spice should be felt rather than named. Coconut water means the clear liquid from a young coconut and is the authentic southern braising liquid; plain water works but is less rounded. Skin-on pork belly is essential, since the collagen in the skin gives the sauce its body. The dish keeps five days refrigerated and improves throughout; the fat sets on top when cold and can be left as a seal or lifted off. Serve with plain rice and a sharp pickle, most traditionally pickled bean sprouts or mustard greens, which cut the richness.

The Gastrographer

Name: Thịt Kho Tàu
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Southern Vietnam
Ingredients: 1 kg pork belly, skin on, in 4 cm cubes; 8 whole eggs, hard-boiled and peeled; 4 tbsp caster sugar, for the caramel; 2 tbsp water, for the caramel; 5 tbsp fish sauce; 700 ml coconut water; 2 whole star anise; 6 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 whole shallots, finely chopped; 1 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground; 2 whole red chillies, left whole (optional); 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 portion steamed rice and pickled bean sprouts, to serve

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control