Thai grilled pork, called “Moo Ping” (หมูปิ้ง) is a fan-favorite street food all around Bangkok. Originating from the northeastern region of Thailand, Moo Ping has made its way all over the country, and is equally popular to its cousin – the famous Thai grilled chicken (Gai Yang). 

If you’ve been to Thailand, you’ve most likely seen Moo Ping (or even tried these) from a street vendor, ubiquitously located throughout town. They are sold by the skewers at dirt cheap prices and come with a small bag of sticky rice and Jaew dipping sauce, available all …day… long. You can have it as a snack, or as a meal, or as a snack before a meal, or even as breakfast (that’s right, I said breakfast) So move over donuts and pancakes – there’s a new breakfast sheriff in town 😆 

These delectable skewers of juicy pork is marinaded primarily with cilantro, garlic, palm sugar, fish sauce or soy, white pepper, and rounded out with coconut milk, resulting in a sweet-savory-salty bite. 

The traditional cut of pork used is pork neck meat or pork jowl – not the most common cut (or easy to find cut) in Western countries, but immensely popular in Thailand and other Asian countries for its low cost and grillability (Did I just make up a word??). 

… Allow me to ruminate and digress for a minute … Remember when beef short ribs used to be cheap in America because no one ever used it? Then somehow beef short rib dishes started appearing on menus and Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay put out recipes, and it was no longer a throw-away cut and the prices went up? Yeah, I’m sure that’s going to be the story of the lowly pork neck meat one day. 😉 But until such time when pork neck meat is sold widely, you may need to use a substitute cut of pork, one that has good fat content such as pork shoulder or pork butt. Slice it thin (no more than a 1/4 inch), in small pieces, and against the grain to maximize tenderness and marinade absorption.

If you happen to be a food nerd (like me) and happen to have a mortar and pestle, you can make the marinade by pounding cilantro (traditionally the root is used, but stems will work), garlic, and sugar (normally palm sugar but you can substitute) into a slushy paste, then add all the remaining marinade ingredients. No mortar and pestle – No problems! … that trusty food processor will work just fine.

For optimal flavor infusion, mix the sliced pork in the marinade with your hand (wear gloves if you must) until you’ve lovingly coated all pieces. Refrigerate over night, and give it a good mix once or twice during the course of that time for good measure.

When it’s time to grill, get your skewers ready. Soak the bamboo ones an hour before you use them to help prevent burning. Skewer the pork pieces tightly together as shown in the picture. Make your skewers as big or small as you want. Metal skewers also work well, without the hassle of skewer prep.

Best result is to grill these over coals – that’s how they do it in Thailand. But you can use a gas BBQ grill and they will still be dang delicious. Stay close by and look out for flare-ups as the fat renders and marinade drips, else you risk burning these to a crisp! 

By now if your mouth is beginning to water, and you are starting to think “I need these in my life, but can’t get to Thailand” (or you’re in Thailand but “it’s too hot to go outside to find a street vendor”), what are you to do?? My recommendation is to get this marinade started, and by tomorrow you’ll be in Moo Ping heaven, and no one to stop you from having it for breakfast 😉