Before the dawn is fully up, charcoal begins to glow red on a street corner. Laid out on the grill are thin slices of pork in a sweet marinade. Each time fat drips onto the coals, white smoke rises, and the smell of burnt sugar and garlic drifts across the road. Rice goes on a plate, grilled pork on top, a pinch of sweet-sour pickles, and beside it a small bowl of soup. This is the plate with which Cambodians start the day, bai sach chrouk (pork and rice).
The smoky stall that vanishes after 8 a.m.
In Khmer it is written បាយសាច់ជ្រូក and means simply "rice and pork." The name is plain, but it is one of the best-loved breakfasts in Cambodia, sold on corner after corner in the capital, Phnom Penh. Austin Bush, who has covered Southeast Asian food from his base in Bangkok, writes that Cambodians are early risers, so after 8 a.m. you hardly see anyone making it or eating it. Stalls light the grill at daybreak, sell out in the morning, and close.
The marinade differs a little from stall to stall. The base is the sweet-salty pairing of soy sauce and palm sugar, with coconut milk added at some stalls and fish sauce and garlic pushed hard at others. The blend is said to vary by region as well, and there is no one fixed flavor. What they share is that the pork is cut thin and grilled well over charcoal until the sugar caramelizes and shines. Coconut milk and pork fat dripping onto the grate turn to smoke and pass a toasty flavor to the meat.
The rice at the stalls is often short-grained broken rice. It is said to be a holdover from the days when cheap rice was used, but now that tender mouthfeel is part of what makes this dish itself.
What makes the dish more than its name is what comes alongside. The small dish of pickles is cucumber, carrot, and daikon pickled in sweet-sour brine. The acidity cleanly resets the sweetness and fat of the grilled pork. Some stalls serve a sharply sour pickle of shredded green mango and a herb of the lizard-tail family (fish mint). Austin Bush writes that the soup is sometimes borrowed from the noodle stall next door, which is very much a street-stall detail. In the usual form it is a clear chicken broth with daikon and fried onion floating in it.
Ingredient notes for the home cook
Without charcoal, a grill pan or heavy skillet will still cook it very well. The marinade is rich with sugar and coconut milk, though, so high heat all at once scorches the surface before the inside cooks. Keep to a strong medium heat and turn the meat when the side has taken on color.
Pork shoulder, with a moderate amount of fat, is a good choice. The recipe from the Australian food outlet SBS Food uses pork neck, but because that cut is hard to find, pork shoulder of similar texture stands in. A thickness of around 5 mm is the guide. Too thin, like hot-pot slices, and the meat shrinks and toughens as it cooks; over 1 cm, and the sweetness of the marinade does not reach the center.
Palm sugar is often sold in blocks. Shave it with the back of a knife or grate it coarsely before measuring, and it dissolves more easily into the marinade. If you cannot find it, use the same weight of light brown sugar or muscovado. Choose a rich brown sugar to get closer to the sweetness of the stalls.
Canned coconut milk is the easiest. When opened, the solid fat may be floating on top, so stir well before measuring. Fish sauce is Thai-style fish sauce, now easy to find in supermarket international aisles. To get closer to the broken rice of the stalls, Thai jasmine rice gives a similar aroma. Ordinary white rice goes with it, of course.
Ingredients (serves 4)
The amounts of pork and marinade are based on Phoebe Wood's recipe (serves 6) published by SBS Food. Assuming 150 g of pork per person, the blend has been set to use up everything for 4 servings at home.
This dish contains soy and wheat (soy sauce) and fish (fish sauce). Coconut milk comes from coconut. The red chili in the pickles makes it much hotter if the seeds go in, so leave it out if children will eat it.
How to make bai sach chrouk
Both the pickles and the pork are prepared the night before. Allow about 40 minutes of prep and about 20 minutes to grill and plate, but because the pork marinates in the refrigerator overnight (about 12 hours), count about 13 hours in all. In the morning you only warm the rice and grill the meat to put the table together.
Do not eat pork raw. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare urges cooking pork until the color of the center changes, heating the center to 75°C for at least 1 minute. Even with thin slices, do not judge by the browning alone; cut into the thickest part and check the color inside. If you have a cooking thermometer, measuring the center temperature is more reliable.
Because the marinade has a lot of sugar, scorched residue builds up on the pan surface. Before grilling the second and later batches, wipe off the char with paper towels. Leaving char on and cooking the next batch transfers bitterness.
Heat and fat decide how it grills
The biggest difference between a stall's grill and a home skillet is where the fat goes. On the grate, dripping fat turns to smoke on the charcoal and returns its aroma to the meat. In a skillet, fat pools around the meat and it cooks more like shallow-frying than grilling. The grooves of a grill pan keep this fat away from the meat, and the advantage is that the surface dries and grills toasty. If you use a skillet, blot the pooled fat with paper towels from time to time.
The guide for color is scorched streaks here and there and a deep amber overall. The coconut milk in the marinade gives off a sweet, toasty smell when it chars, but charred too far it turns bitter. Austin Bush describes the pork at the stalls as being cooked "until quite dry." Unlike moist, tender Japanese ginger pork, it is better cooked to where there is a little chew, which brings out the combination of rice and pickles.
You can also cook it under a broiler. Lining the rack with aluminum foil keeps the marinade from dripping and smoking. Lay the slices on the foil without overlapping and, over medium heat, give each side 4 to 5 minutes, turning while watching the color.
How to eat it and what to serve with it
When eating, take a bite each of pork and rice, with the sourness of the pickles and the warmth of the soup in between. This going back and forth keeps the sweet grilled meat from tiring you to the end. At some stalls, about 2 tablespoons of marinade are spooned over the grilled meat or chopped pork is added. If you do the same at home, move the marinade to a small pot and boil it firmly for at least 1 minute so that it is cooked before using.
The SBS Food recipe also describes scattering toasted dried coconut on top. Toast fine desiccated coconut in a skillet over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes until pale golden, and it adds a toasty note. On the table you can also set out fish sauce with chili, or a dipping sauce of pepper and lime. For another Cambodian home dish, stir-fried sweet-savory cubes of beef, lok lak (in Japanese), or fish steamed in coconut milk, amok (in Japanese), can reuse the same palm sugar and fish sauce.
Some stalls also serve "chicken and rice" with grilled chicken in place of pork. The same marinade suits chicken thigh well. When making it with chicken, grill until it is cooked through to the center and the juices run clear.
Ways to vary it
For chicken thigh, remove the skin, open it out to about 1 cm thick, and marinate in the same sauce. The guide for grilling time is about 5 minutes a side, a little longer than for pork. For the pickles, it is said that some stalls use shredded green mango. If unripe green mango is hard to find, thinly sliced green apple pickled in the same sweet-sour brine for about 30 minutes gives a side with acidity and crunch.
For a packed lunch, cool the grilled pork thoroughly before putting it over rice, and squeeze the pickles well and put them in a separate container. The sweetness of the marinade keeps the meat from stiffening as it cools, and it tastes good even cold is another point in this dish's favor.
Frequently asked questions
What if I do not have time to marinate overnight?
Marinate at least 3 hours. The recipe on the travel and food site Grantourismo also says 3 hours or more, ideally overnight. Even with a short time, cutting the meat thinner than 5 mm helps the flavor go in.
What if I do not have palm sugar?
Use the same weight of light brown sugar or muscovado. You can also use white granulated sugar, but the characteristic richness of palm sugar thins and the sweetness leans cleaner.
How long do the pickles keep?
The SBS Food recipe says they keep 6 weeks in a sterilized jar in the refrigerator. That varies with the home container and refrigerator, however, so take them out with clean chopsticks and do not eat them if the smell or color changes.
Can I make the grilled pork ahead?
Let the grilled pork cool a little, put it in the refrigerator, and finish it by the next day. To reheat, cook again in a skillet until hot all the way through. Raw pork in the marinade should also be grilled within the next day, refrigerated.
Do I have to serve the soup?
It is not essential. At the stalls it is often served with chicken soup, but even in the SBS Food recipe the soup is "optional." Just dissolving chicken bouillon in hot water and floating daikon or scallions in it makes a combination that suits a morning table.
Sources
- SBS Food, Phoebe Wood, "Pork and rice (bai sach chrouk)," published June 25, 2015. Accessed and checked: October 22, 2026. https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pork-and-rice-bai-sach-chrouk
- Austin Bush, "Bai sach chrouk," Austin Bush Photography. Accessed and checked: October 22, 2026. https://www.austinbushphotography.com/blog/blog/bai-sach-chrouk.html
- Grantourismo, "Cambodian Pork and Rice Recipe for Bai Sach Chrouk." Accessed and checked: October 22, 2026. https://grantourismotravels.com/cambodian-pork-and-rice-recipe
- Wikipedia, "Bay sach chruk." Accessed and checked: October 22, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_sach_chruk
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, "Cook beef and pork liver and pork thoroughly through to the center" (leaflet for display in restaurants; in Japanese). Accessed and checked: October 22, 2026. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/file/06-Seisakujouhou-11120000-Iyakushokuhinkyoku/innsyokutenn.pdf
