Kim Long Rice Sheets with Grilled Pork
Bánh ướt thịt nướng
Kim Long's roll of fresh rice sheets around lemongrass-grilled pork — a garden-house snack from Huế's old lordly village, eaten by the plateful.
By Vietnamese Cookbook Kitchen · April 10, 2026
Huế & the Imperial CourtNguyễn & the Huế Court era, 1802–1883
Nướng- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Intermediate
Kim Long sits just upriver of Huế's citadel, a village of garden houses along the Perfume River that had its half-century of glory before Huế did — the Nguyễn lords ruled their southern domain from Kim Long from 1636 until the capital moved to nearby Phú Xuân in 1687. The mandarin families stayed on, and their long-fruited gardens and long-guarded recipes became the village's second act. Bánh ướt thịt nướng is its most famous dish: cool, soft rice sheets rolled around lemongrass pork straight off the charcoal, from shops — Huyền Anh being the name everyone trades — whose dipping-sauce recipes are family property and stay that way.
The dish is a study in temperature as much as flavor: the sheet must be supple-warm and the pork must be grill-hot when they meet, so the roll steams faintly in the hand. Our sauce is a peanut-leaning nước chấm — close enough to Kim Long's to be worth grilling for, and nobody's secret but yours now.
Slice the pork before it hits the marinade, not after it leaves the grill. Thin slices take the lemongrass in an hour and char at the edges in minutes — a thick chop marinated overnight will never taste as loud.
Lời đầu bếp · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsnguyên liệu
Serves 4
Pork and marinade
- 500 gpork shoulder, sliced 5 mm thin — about 1 lb; a brief stint in the freezer makes thin slicing easy
- 3lemongrass stalks, tender parts minced
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 2shallots, minced
- 2 tbspfish sauce
- 1.5 tbspsugar
- 1 tbsphoney
- 1 tbspneutral oil
- 1 tsptoasted sesame seeds
- 0.5 tspground black pepper
Rolls
- 500 gfresh rice sheets (bánh ướt) — about 1 lb — buy fresh, uncut rice noodle sheets from a Chinese market (the kind sold for cheung fun); see the FAQ
- 1head soft lettuce
- As neededmint, perilla, and Vietnamese coriander
- 1small cucumber, cut in batons
Peanut dipping sauce
- 160 mlnước chấm — the foundations recipe, mixed a shade sweeter
- 3 tbsproasted peanuts, half ground and half chopped
- 1 tsphoisin — optional — nudges the sauce toward the thicker Kim Long style
Methodcách làm
Step 1: Marinate the pork
Pound the lemongrass, garlic, and shallots to a rough paste, then massage into the pork with the fish sauce, sugar, honey, oil, sesame, and pepper. One to two hours is right for slices this thin; the sugar and honey are what will catch at the grill's edge and turn to char.
Step 2: Grill hot and fast
Cook the slices over hot charcoal or under a full broiler, close to the heat, two to three minutes a side, until the edges blacken in spots and the fat glistens. Pork sliced this thin is done the moment it chars — 63°C (145°F) if you want a number, but your eyes will get there first.
Step 3: Soften the sheets
Steam the rice sheets briefly, or microwave them under a damp towel in short bursts, until warm and supple, then cut into rough 12 cm squares. A cold sheet cracks when rolled; a warm one drapes and clings, which is the whole texture of the dish.
Step 4: Roll
On each square lay a piece of lettuce, a few herb leaves, a baton of cucumber, and two slices of pork, then roll into a loose cylinder. Loose matters — this is a soft, warm roll, not a tight gỏi cuốn; the sheet should ripple, not strain.
Step 5: Sauce and serve
Stir the peanuts and hoisin into the nước chấm and serve alongside a heaped plate of rolls. In Kim Long the plate arrives pre-rolled by the dozen and disappears at roughly the same rate.
Đồ nghề · The tools
Equipment
Charcoal grill / grill pan
Vỉ nướngNướng means fire, and lemongrass pork wants char and smoke. A small charcoal grill is the true answer; a screaming-hot cast-iron grill pan under a cracked window is the honest apartment one.
Shop on Amazon →Bamboo steamer
Xửng hấpFor bánh bao, xôi, and fish steamed whole — bamboo breathes, so nothing drips condensation back onto your work. Line it with a cabbage leaf, not parchment, and steal the leaf after.
Shop on Amazon →Mortar & pestle
Cối chàyLemongrass, garlic, and chilies pounded release oils a blender never finds — it bruises where blades slice. The sound of a Vietnamese kitchen starting dinner.
Shop on Amazon →Julienne peeler
Dao bào sợiThe three-dollar tool that shreds green papaya and mango into long, springy threads for gỏi. Look for the Thai Kiwi brand — it hangs in every Southeast Asian market for a reason.
Shop on Amazon →Fine sieve / muslin
Rây lọcFor straining broth crystal-clear, squeezing coconut milk, and working tamarind pulp through into pure sour. Line it with muslin when the recipe says “clear” and means it.
Shop on Amazon →
Equipment links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. Disclosure.
Questions from the kitchen
What do I buy abroad for bánh ướt?
Fresh, uncut rice noodle sheets from a Chinese grocer — sold folded in plastic for cheung fun or chow fun, usually near the tofu. Warm them to revive. Dried rice paper is the fallback; dampen it and you'll get a chewier, thinner roll, closer to a spring roll than the soft Kim Long original.
Charcoal or broiler?
Charcoal, if the choice exists — the drips flaring against the coals season the pork in a way no oven can. A broiler on high with the meat 5 cm from the element is the honest second place, and a screaming cast-iron pan the honest third.
How is this different from bánh cuốn?
Bánh cuốn, the northern dish, steams the filling inside the sheet — the wrapper is cooked around minced pork and mushrooms. Here the sheet is plain and the pork is grilled, so the smoke stays smoky and the rice stays cool and neutral. Same noun, different philosophy.
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