Hmong Charcoal Grill · Herbed Pork Sausage

Hmong Sausage (Hnyuv Ntxwm Hmoob)

Photo: rochelle hartman https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinfoilraccoon/5714049514/ / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

The same lemongrass-heavy sausage carried out of highland Laos by Hmong families is now sold at Hmong-owned markets and delis as far away as Minnesota's Twin Cities, a highland specialty that traveled well beyond its home mountains.

Coarsely chopped pork is seasoned heavily with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chili and green onion, stuffed into casing, and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters. It's a Hmong household and market staple across the highlands around Xieng Khouang, home to one of Laos's largest Hmong communities.

Why it's made this way: Xieng Khouang's highlands hold one of Laos's largest Hmong populations, and this lemongrass-forward sausage is a signature recipe Hmong communities carried between their home villages and diaspora communities abroad.