Emeril's Korean Pork Lettuce Wraps

I'll be the first to admit, I have never been a huge fan of Emeril Lagasse. His energy is amazing but sometimes, too much - I like it in small doses, you know? A few years ago, I happened to watch one of his episodes where he was putting these wraps together. I don't remember why I was intrigued, or why I chose to write down the name of the recipe, or why I later went back and googled it. Whatever the reasons, I'm glad I did!!

This recipe is, well, FUN! It's relatively easy to make, always delicious, and a very pretty layout on the table - cool lettuce wraps, hot marinated pork, a spicy and sweet sauce.

I think the least fun part of this recipe is finding a way to successfully come up with 6-8 pretty lettuce cups. I always buy the biggest head of lettuce I can find, spend 15 minutes slowly peeling away layers, and I STILL don't know the secret. That's something I need to google, as I'm sure there's an easier way. When I re-heated leftovers on day 2, I actually just used chopped lettuce, like for a salad. Of course it tastes the same, but it isn't nearly as fun :)

PS - I served this with homemade asian slaw.

Emeril's Korean Pork Lettuce Wraps

medium pork tenderloin, trimmed (1-1.5 lb)
1/2 C soy sauce
1 TBS sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 C chopped green onions
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS fresh minced ginger
2 TBS hot chili sauce
2 TBS honey
vegetable oil
seasame seeds
2 C cooked jasmine rice
1 large head letteuce, leaves separated, washed and patted dry

After trimming the fat off the pork, wrap tightly in several sheets of plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 40 mins. You want it to be the shape of a slender log.

In a large casserole dish, add soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, green onion, garlic and ginger. Whisk together. Take the pork out of the freezer and cut into half-inch medallions. Place the pork in the marinade, cover and put in fridge for 1 hour-overnight.

In a small mixing bowl, combine hot sauce and honey. [note - this is the sauce noted in the original recipe. You can have fun with this part - I sometimes add hoison, horseradish, orange marmalade, etc.]

When the pork has marinated, remove from fridge and let sit 15 minutes. Heat several TBS of oil in a large skillet and carefully add pork medallions - be careful!!! It will splatter some oil - ensure your oil isn't too hot. Cook the pork for several minutes on each side, until cooked.



Remove from heat and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

To serve, lay out the lettuce wraps, rice, pork and sauce. Take a lettuce cup, put rice inside, and a pork medallion, and drizzle some sauce. Wrap up and eat!