Every Vietnamese family has their own recipe for thit kho, caramelized braised pork with egg. Typically, I’ve seen pork belly used as the cut of meat for this dish, but I’m a big fan of using pork short ribs instead. There’s a good amount of fat, but not too much fat. I like letting the sauce really reduce and become almost like a glaze. It’s the perfect accompaniment to some aromatic jasmine rice. You want to use a fatty piece of pork with some connective tissue because leaner cuts will just become mush after braising for so long.
There’s Too Much Fat in My Thit kho: What do I do?
It is best to make this dish, refrigerate it, and then remove the fat once it is solidified. I often like to make this dish the day before I intend to serve it, which makes it easier to remove the fat. Otherwise, remove the meat and egg from the sauce. Place the sauce into a bowl and remove as much of the fat as possible with a spoon.
Thit Kho- Braised Shortribs with Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
Method
- Soak pork ribs in water for an hour. This will help it to release its blood and impurities. Then drain, pat dry with paper towels, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Mix together sauce: dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, xiaoxing wine, and water. Set aside.
- Heat a deep skillet on high heat. Add in oil. When oil is shimmery, add in pork spare ribs. Sear until golden brown on both sides for 3-5 minutes.
- Add in garlic, brown sugar, and sugar to the spare ribs and allow to caramelize for another 3 minutes.
- Add in sauce to the spare ribs and cover with a lid. Braise on medium low heat for 30 minutes. Halfway through braising, flip the meat to allow even cooking and absorption of the sauce. Add water as necessary if it dries out.
- While your meat is braising, place a large pot of water to boil. When water is boiling vigorously, gently add in 5 eggs. Allow to boil on high heat for 7-8 minutes for soft boiled eggs. Then place eggs into an iced water bath for 10 minutes to stop cooking. Gently tap the eggshells against a counter and use a spoon to peel all the eggs. Set aside.
- After 30 minutes of braising, check for tenderness of the meat. Once the meat is tender, turn the heat to medium or medium high and allow the sauce to reduce and thicken. If the sauce is too dry, add water.
- Once the sauce is thickened to a desired consistency, e.g., coats the back of a wooden spoon, remove the meat from the pan, leaving in the sauce. There will be extra fat in the sauce. Use a ladle to remove as much of the fat as possible and discard.
- Add the boiled eggs into the remaining sauce and allow eggs to simmer in the sauce for about 3 minutes on low heat to allow the eggs to absorb some of the sauce. Then combine eggs, sauce, and short ribs and serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.
A veggie side dish to go with this thit kho recipe is stir fried morning glory.
