How-To: Make Juicy Pork Summer Rolls

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Food

How-To: Make Juicy Pork Summer Rolls

“When you’re super hot and sweaty, these herbs cool you right down.”

Bao La is the executive chef at Hong Kong's Le Garçon Saigon, a Vietnamese grillhouse and brasserie exploring the flavors and cuisine of southern Vietnam.

There, he makes a bunch of different kinds of grilled meat, accompanied by what's called a setting—a riotous array of herbs, lettuce, aromatics, pickled vegetables, fruit, rice noodles, rice paper, and nuoc mam—for you to combine as you see fit.

La says Hong Kong wasn't initially sure what to do with a Vietnamese restaurant that didn't serve pho. "It's still hard," he continues. "I always want to say, 'Hey, guys, don't reduce an entire cuisine to one dish.' This particular one dish, though, is what La describes as the perfect accompaniment to Saigon's super-hot, sticky climate: "they're soothing—all these herbs, they're really light and refreshing."

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He starts with boneless pork chops, which he marinates in lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and maple syrup, then grills, brushing with more syrup, till they're browned and sticky.

And once the pork is done, the remainder is straightforward:

"You have your staples: lettuce, herbs, rice paper, cilantro, lemongrass—and the rest, you use what you have. We have Japanese shiso here; Vietnamese shiso is more floral but Japanese still works. I was in Italy and made these with tomatoes, basil, and parsley; in Portugal, we used preserved lemons and beautiful olives."

MAKE THESE: Pork Summer Rolls

The end result is a perfect (and perfectly refreshing) combo of flavors: sweet/spicy/grassy/fatty/herbaceous/pungent/acidic/refreshing, depending on how you stuff it.