Nem Chua - Vietnamese Fermented Meat
making your own charcuterie in 24 hours?! That’s crazy
The algorithm gods have brought me to some pretty interesting corners of the internet, including how to make dishes I’ve never even heard of before. One of them was Nem Chua, a Vietnamese fermented meat snack that immediately caught my attention.
Traditional Nem Chua is usually made with minced pork, seasonings and a curing/fermentation mixture, often with shredded pork skin mixed through for that slightly chewy texture. It’s then left to ferment, which gives it its signature sour, tangy flavour and that surprisingly vibrant pink colour. It’s commonly eaten with garlic, chilli and sometimes herbs — basically a Vietnamese cold cut, except it’s fermented rather than cooked.
And as someone who loves cold cuts, raw-ish things and food that looks slightly questionable, I obviously had to make it.
The only problem was the pork.
So for my halal version, I swapped it out for good-quality minced beef, making sure there is no tough sinew in the mince (trust me you don’t want random bits of connective tissue stuck in between your teeth)
The pork skin was a little trickier. I wanted that extra bit of texture, but obviously pork skin was out. So I tried tang hoon, or glass noodles, instead.
After mixing everything together, I packed the meat into a ziplock bag and let it ferment according to the curing mix instructions. Now this is where things get a little crazy: the beef starts off looking oxidised and brown, but after fermentation, it turns this incredibly vibrant pink.
Once fermented for 24 hours, I portioned them up and wrapped each piece with garlic, cili padi and laksa leaves — the way Nem Chua is commonly enjoyed.
The result? Sour, savoury, garlicky, spicy and moreish. Now obviously I’ve never tried OG Nem Chua but visually, it looks pretty damn close (I’m thinking if I should get my Vietnamese friends try this…)
One important note: this is a raw fermented meat product, so the curing mix, measurements, fermentation time and temperature matter. Don’t freestyle this one — use a curing mix specifically intended for this type of preparation and follow its instructions carefully.
If TikTok hadn’t sent me down this rabbit hole, I probably would never have discovered Nem Chua. Now I’m wondering what other fermented meat snacks the algorithm has been hiding from me!
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get the ingredients for the recipe in the links below!:
Nem Chua Powder, Tang Hoon, Fish Sauce, Minced Beef
try our other Vietnamese recipes here!:
Vietnamese Duck Curry (Cà Ri Vit)
recently, we reconnected with friends from Eminami to recreate a specialty dish from their menu - one which also holds a special significance to the husband-and-wife restaurateur team who owns the halal Vietnamese restaurant business.
