Doi Sun Nuong (Grilled Pork Cartilage Sausage)

Method

1. Turn the 400g of pork small intestine inside out, strip out the yellow fluid with water and salt, rub it over and over until the slime is gone, wash it again with lime juice, vinegar or ginger wine, then rinse it under running water several times.
2. Wash 30g pork cartilage and 100g pork fat, cut them small, then mince them together.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cartilage and pork fat with 300g ground pork, 30g minced onion, 30g Thai basil, 25g Vietnamese coriander and spring onion, 30g roasted peanuts crushed small, 3 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 2 tablespoons seasoning powder, 2 tablespoons mai que lo, 1 tablespoon annatto oil and 2 teaspoons white peppercorn, then leave for 30 minutes.
4. Tie one end of the intestine, set a funnel in the open end, spoon in the filling and push it down with chopsticks. Once it is filled, tie it off with food safe string into bite sized sections.
5. Boil the sausage for 5 to 7 minutes, and once the surface turns opaque, prick each section with a skewer to let the air out.
6. Lift the sausage out, let it cool, cut it into lengths and thread them onto skewers.
7. Grill over glowing coals until the sausage turns reddish brown with a light char.

Tips

• Firm fat keeps the filling from drying out on the grill.
• Pack the filling with a moderate hand, as a casing stuffed too tight bursts during boiling.
• Pricking each section during boiling is what stops the sausage splitting.
• Turn the intestine inside out, strip out every trace of the yellow fluid and rub it with salt, since anything left behind turns the whole sausage bitter.
• Moderate coals are right, since a fierce fire chars the skin while the inside stays raw.