Nem Lui — Pounded Pork Grilled on Lemongrass Skewers

Nem lụi is a familiar grilled dish in Hue: pork pounded to a paste, moulded around a lemongrass or bamboo skewer, and grilled over charcoal.

“Lui” means skewered

The name describes the method. Lụi means to skewer, to push a stick through.

Lean pork is pounded — beaten or ground until it becomes sticky and cohesive — then mixed with diced fat, garlic, pepper and a little sugar. That mixture is moulded around the skewer and grilled.

Because the meat is pounded to a paste it holds together as one piece rather than falling apart like ordinary skewered meat. The outside browns while the inside stays juicy.

The lemongrass skewer is not just a handle: as it grills, the lemongrass perfumes the meat.

The sauce is the hard part

In Hue the dipping sauce for nem lụi is called nước lèo — thick, brown, rich and faintly sweet. It is what separates a good shop from an ordinary one.

It is cooked from ground pork liver, roasted crushed peanuts, plus fermented soybean paste, sugar, fish sauce, and at many places a little sesame. Simmered until thick enough to cling to a roll without turning to paste.

A careless version is either far too sweet or just thinned soybean paste with peanuts on top — you finish it with sugar sitting on your tongue.

How to roll it

Nem lụi is assembled at the table:

• Thin rice paper laid out, herbs on top: lettuce, Thai basil, perilla, bean sprouts.
• Add a few slices of green banana and sour starfruit — these balance the richness, and without them it quickly cloys.
• Pull the meat off the skewer, lay it on and roll.
• Dip generously in the sauce.

Eat it hot, straight off the grill. Left to cool, the fat sets and the meat firms up.

How it differs from nem nuong Ninh Hoa

The two are often treated as one dish, but they are clearly different:

• Nem lụi Huế — pounded pork moulded around a skewer, dipped in liver and peanut sauce.
• Nem nướng Ninh Hòa in Khánh Hòa — pounded pork shaped into balls or bars, with a different thick dipping sauce, usually rolled with a crisp fried rice paper inside.

Both are grilled pounded pork, but the sauce and the way they are rolled make two separate dishes.

Where to eat it

Nem lụi is an evening dish, sold at small shops and street stalls around the Hue citadel and the south bank of the Perfume River. They grill on the spot and the charcoal smoke drifts into the street — that is the easiest way to spot one.

It is usually ordered alongside bánh khoái or the bánh bèo, nậm and lọc set to make up a full spread.

See also Đông Ba market.