Charcoal Grill · Lemongrass Sausage

Sai Oua (Northern Herb Sausage)

Photo: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

The name is bluntly literal, not poetic: 'sai' means intestine and 'oua' means stuffed — that's the whole etymology.

Coarsely chopped fatty pork is kneaded with a fistful of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, shallots, garlic and fresh chilies, sometimes with a spoon of curry paste, then packed into casings and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters. Market stalls coil it into a spiral on the grill so the fragrant smoke perfumes the whole street.

Why it's made this way: The sausage is shared by northern Thailand and Laos, and in Chiang Mai it is one of the defining foods of Lanna cooking, sold at nearly every morning market.