Thai Grilled Pork (Moo Ping) with Chili-Lime Dipping Sauce (Nam Jim Jaew)

The Thai grilled pork dish called moo ping is garlicky, salty-sweet and umami-rich. When the seasoned meat and its fatty bits get some crisping and char over live fire, complex layers of flavors are created. At Baan Padthai restaurant in Bangkok, we learned to make moo ping by marinating pork neck—also called pork collar, the well-marbled meat at the top of the shoulder—in a simple but high-powered mixture of garlic, cilantro root, sweetener, Golden Mountain sauce (a Thai soy-based seasoning) and black pepper before grilling the meat hot and fast. At Milk Street, we adapted Baan Padthai’s formula, substituting cilantro stems for the root and using fish sauce instead of Golden Mountain for savoriness. For the pork, we chose boneless country-style spareribs, which have a good ratio of meat to fat and offer both tenderness and a little chew. Moo ping is served with nam jim jaew, a spicy lime-shallot dipping sauce that perfectly balances the fattiness of the pork. A key ingredient in the sauce is ground toasted rice, or khao kua, which provides nutty notes and a little clingability. Baan Padthai sprinkled toasted rice over their grilled pork as a garnish, along with sliced shallot and fresh mint. We loved the color and flavor of these embellishments and add them, too. Steamed jasmine rice is an excellent accompaniment to moo ping.