Preparation time: 1 hour

Resting time: 1 night

Servings: 4

Giò thủ often served for special occasions, especially Tet, which is the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. This cylindrical head cheese is traditionally wrapped in banana leaves, but the Vietnamese now use metal milk cans or empty plastic bottles in order to give it its shape.

INGREDIENTS

• 500g pork ears
• 500g pork snout
• 50g dried black mushrooms
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 Tbsp nuoc-mâm sauce
• 1 tsp pepper

Tools:

• Cooking pot
• Empty 1-liter plastic bottle

PREPARATION

Clean the pork ears and snout. Cut them into pieces, then boil them in a pot of hot water. Soak the black mushrooms in lukewarm water for 15 minutes before rinsing, chopping and mixing them with the pork.

Chop the garlic. Sauté the pork and mushroom mixture in a pot with the garlic, nuoc-mâm and pepper for 10 minutes.

Cut off the top of an empty plastic bottle and fill it with the stuffing. Wrap the bottle with cling film and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the mortadella from the plastic bottle and cut it into 1-cm thick slices. Serve the slices cold.

Suggestion

Giò thủ can be enjoyed in sandwiches, soups, spring rolls or just by itself.