Cooking in
New York
Thai
Nahm Tok Mu (Waterfall Pork Salad)
Grilled pork, sliced thin, dressed with the same components as larb: fish sauce, lime juice, toasted rice powder, dried chilli flakes, shallots, mint, and coriander. Nahm tok (literally 'waterfall') refers to the juices that flow from the grilled pork as it is sliced — the fat and juices of the grilled meat becoming part of the dressing. Where larb uses poached, minced meat, nahm tok uses grilled, sliced meat — the Maillard caramelisation of the grilled surface providing depth that the poached protein cannot. The technique is identical to larb; the different character comes entirely from the grilling.
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Cook
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the marinade
4
coriander roots
scraped clean, finely pounded
Not yet stocked in New York
3 cloves
garlic
finely pounded
Your own market
2 tbsp
fish sauce
Your own market
½ tsp
white pepper
freshly ground
Your own market
For the pork
600 g
pork neck (kaw mu)
whole piece, excess sinew trimmed
Not yet stocked in New York
For the dressing
3 tbsp
fish sauce
Your own market
3 tbsp
lime juice
freshly squeezed
Your own market
2 tbsp
toasted rice powder
khao khua: raw glutinous rice dry-toasted and ground
Not yet stocked in New York
1 tsp
dried chilli flakes
toasted briefly in a dry pan
Not yet stocked in New York
4
shallots
thinly sliced
Your own market
1 small bunch
mint
leaves picked
Origin · New ZealandNot yet stocked in New York
1 small bunch
coriander
leaves and fine stems
Not yet stocked in New York
II
The Method
1
Combine the pounded coriander root and garlic with the fish sauce and white pepper, then rub the paste thoroughly into the pork neck so the aromatics penetrate the dense fat and muscle rather than sitting only on the surface. Leave the meat to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes — the paste should adhere visibly to the surface of the meat, and bringing the pork up from a cold start means the centre will cook evenly on a fierce grill without the outside burning before the inside is done.
From the canon — The root and lower stem of the coriander plant (Coriandrum sativum) — an aromatic that Thompson identifies as the most overlooked and underutilised Thai ingr… Coriander Root (Raak Pak Chee): The Overlooked Element →
2
Prepare a charcoal grill to medium-high heat and grill the pork neck, turning as needed, until the exterior is deeply caramelised and carries char in places while the interior is just cooked through. The fat will begin to drip and flare — this is the 'waterfall' that defines the dish, and those flares of flame lick back smoke and rendered fat onto the meat, building the flavour that no pan can replicate. The surface should be taut and lacquered, darkened at the edges, fragrant with rendered fat and caramel.
3
Rest the pork for five minutes set over a board or tray that will collect the dripping fat and juices, because those pooled juices carry the char, the marinade, and the rendered fat that become the backbone of the dressing. Do not discard them. This is where the dish lives or dies: if the pork is sliced cold, or if the juices are lost, the character of nahm tok is gone. Slice the rested pork across the grain into pieces of approximately 5 mm while the meat is still warm, so the heat in the slices continues to open the dressing once it is added.
4
Transfer the warm sliced pork and all collected juices to a mixing bowl, then add the fish sauce, lime juice, toasted rice powder, and dried chilli flakes and toss immediately, so the dressing hits warm meat and the rice powder begins to swell and bind the liquid into a light coating rather than a thin puddle. The salad should smell of charred meat, lime, and fish sauce simultaneously — if any one of those three is absent from the nose, the balance is already off.
From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →
5
Add the sliced shallots, mint leaves, and coriander, then toss once more. Taste and adjust: the balance should be sharp and savoury in equal measure, with the chilli present but not dominant. The salad is ready when the shallots have softened slightly from the residual heat of the meat and the rice powder has thickened the dressing to a light coating consistency.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Pork neck from a breed selected for intramuscular fat, grilled over hardwood charcoal; fish sauce of the first pressing, single-origin; fresh-ground white pepper from whole berries; lime juice squeezed to order.
02
Estate — Good-quality free-range pork neck with visible fat marbling; quality fish sauce such as Megachef or Tiparos; charcoal grill with consistent medium-high heat.
03
Market — Standard supermarket pork neck, reliably fatty; decent fish sauce; a cast-iron griddle pan at high heat as a substitute for charcoal — caramelisation is achievable, though the smoke character will be absent.
04
House — Any well-marbled pork shoulder or collar grilled or pan-seared hard; pre-ground white pepper; bottled lime juice used in part. The dish will be serviceable if the dressing balance is correct.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The grilled exterior is deeply caramelised, lacquered, and carries visible char at the thinner edges.
◇Smell. The resting meat releases the scent of rendered pork fat and charcoal; the finished salad smells simultaneously of lime and caramel.
◇Touch. The sliced pork is warm to the touch; the shallots have lost their raw rigidity after contact with the hot meat.
◇Sight. The toasted rice powder has thickened the dressing to a light, opaque coating that clings to each slice of pork.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish is lost if the pork is sliced cold or the dripping fat and juices are discarded — both the warmth and the waterfall are the dressing.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sake
From New York
Nothing from New York holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
Genmaicha — Yamamotoyama Genmaicha Green Tea with Roasted Rice
Yamamotoyama · Uji
Not yet stocked in New York
Tea
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen