Michael Bao Huynh's Vietnamese Caramelized Pork

Such a delicious meal. Changes I made: -use 1/2 cup sugar at the beginning, then another 1/2 cup when recipe calls for it (total of 1 cup) -cut back just a bit on the fish sauce and add a few dashes of soy sauce -add chili oil in addition to sesame oil -add a squeeze of orange -add 1-1.5 Tbsp sriracha Top with scallions, thinly sliced red chili, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Serve with coconut rice and roasted broccoli Double the recipe because the left overs are absolutely delicious!

Added a squirt of Schiracha to this, hit it out of the park!

Prepared exactly as written, using pork belly from Trader Joe's refrigerator case. The sugar took a while to melt in my cast-iron skillet, but just as I was getting nervous it turned into golden-brown liquid, and everything else went exactly as written. Served on brown rice with braised cabbage as a side, and with a dash of Schriracha, as someone else suggested here. We loved it, and will be having it again (occasionally - it's very rich for daily fare).

I made this with a lean pork butt. Delicious. Very sticky, tasty and perfect - in small servings. Great as part of a meal, don't make it the main dish. I found it best to eat it while hot. The sweetness is accented when it cools. It definitely needs Chile's to give it a punch of heat.

that came out lovely, nicely sticky, while the meat was still quite tender. Color was quite appetizing as well. I added quite a bit of ginger and may experiment with more spice next time. Don't bother reheating: the meat was quite tough the next day => just eat the whole thing. Served with asparagus.

Thought this was a bit sweet, even with only 1 cup sugar. Also added about 1 tbsp gochujang, which added really good depth and just a little heat.

One of the few recipes of its kind that actually tastes as good, if not better, than takeout. It’s the first recipe I’ve ever tried—and I’ve tried lots—-that gets that char sieu flavor without maltose, fermented tofu or artificial coloring. A keeper!

Like most regular readers and followers of NYT Cooking, I find the comments helpful and insightful. To that end, I reduced the amount of sugar to one cup total on this recipe. I used boneless pork spare ribs cut into bite-sized chunks. Other than that I followed the method as directed, but did add a splash of soy sauce and a smattering of ground Sezchuan peppercorns. Also like many of the recipes I find and try here, this one is a good technique recipe that would work with many proteins! Delish!

Really good. Amazingly not as sweet as I thought it might be. I added a tad more sesame oil and garnished with freshly jalapeños and the scallions, otherwise I made it as written. My family loved it!

This was wayy too sweet for me. In Step 2, I got rid of 2/3 of the sauce and replaced it with water so that the sweetness would be watered down, but the end result was still too sweet... I honestly can't understand how other people are giving such high reviews. My tongue is numb now.

I omitted the 1/2 cup sugar from step 2. After the onion was cooked I removed the meat with a slotted spoon and boiled down the sauce until it was pretty thick. Since I wasn't eating the meat until later I cooled the sauce down so I could skim some of the fat. Then I returned the sauce to the meat, reheated and topped with scallion and cilantro. It came out great. I wish I'd added some chili peppers but I forgot that part.

Be sure to use pork with some marbling of fat. The fact that my pork was on the dry side is my fault for using boneless pork chops instead of the planned boneless country ribs to make a 1/2 recipe. The sauce was superb - better than I've had at two Pho restuarants. I used a bit less salt, and amped up the heat under my pot for the final few minutes to get that sauce reduced and gooey. Perfect with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli. Definitely to be repeated.

Delicious (and decadent!) — used less sugar (2/3 1/3) and added sriracha. Served with bok choy, which balanced the dish nicely.

I had no problem liquifying the sugar. I used a large cast iron pan and it took about 10 minutes over medium low heat. Pork belly caramelized nicely. I added some red pepper flakes to the sauce and would likely add more the next time I make this. Everyone like the flavor, but thought it a little sweet. Next time I would just the sugar by a third in total. Start with 3/4 cup sugar and add a 1/4 cup later.

If you want enough sauce for the meat, yes. Without it, I think it would be a less succulent dish. Keep in mind that once the sugar caramelizes and you add the pork, the resulting sauce reduces down quite a bit and you wind up with something more like a glaze.