The Critical Mom's Favorite Marinade

Got some pork you want to make interesting?  Often a little tired of the stuff and think the sight of one more breaded cutlet will make you say something unprintable?  Here's a great way to spice things up deliciously and easily.

You will need:

Fish sauce (any Asian store will have this)
light soy sauce
piece of ginger the size of a man's thumb
garlic, garlic, garlic--the more the merrier
one fresh stalk of lemongrass (most good supermarkets will have this, but if not, an Asian store will)
Plant oil (corn oil or rapeseed oil will do)
A little sugar
pork--about three slices of pork cutlet with fat on it.


With a sharp knife, dice the ginger and put it into a large bowl.  Dice the garlic and add that.  Dice the lemongrass--you may wish to remove the outermost layer, if it feels very dry.  Everything should be diced very, very fine.  Add a tablespoon or two of fish sauce, same of light soy sauce and a teaspoon of sugar.  Mix well and add the meat.  Spread the mixture well over each slice.  Dribble over all this a tablespoon or so of oil.  Cover cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  (Alternatively, you can put the entire mixture, with meat, into a zip lock bag).  Leave in refrigerator for at least a few hours--overnight is better.

You can broil this, or fry it in a pan.  It's good with Thai sticky rice and steamed snow peas or broccoli.