Moo Dad Deow (หมูแดดเดียว)

The Dish Named After the Sun

หมูแดดเดียว translates as one-sun pork, and the name is the recipe: strips of pork are marinated, laid out on a bamboo tray or rack, and given a single day of sun before they meet the wok. TrueID's version is explicit that this is food preservation first — drying the meat extends its life, the same logic as the region's fermented sausages and dried beef. A Bloggang home cook calls the finished strips เสบียง, provisions, and กับแกล้ม, drinking food — a batch made on a sunny day keeps for weeks and feeds the house one fried handful at a time.

The build is two-stage, and the stages do opposite jobs. The marinade — fish sauce, oyster sauce or soy, garlic, coriander root, pepper, sugar — works into the meat over a couple of hours. The drying then pulls moisture back out of the surface, so the strips fry crisp instead of steaming. Thai cooks are precise about the endpoint: หมาด ๆ, semi-dry. Bloggang's warning is the rule — dry them too far and the meat goes hard, which is why this is not jerky.

Then the fry. Every source insists on the same two details: enough oil to cover the strips, and constant stirring — the sugar in the marinade burns in the blink of an eye if the pan is left alone. The reward is the texture the dish is famous for: a crisp, caramelised outside giving way to a chewy, salty-sweet centre, eaten with warm sticky rice and a jaew dip of lime, fish sauce, chilli and toasted rice powder.

The Recipe (home version, from Wongnai)

The sun-dried batch (Kapook): 1 kg collar strips in a sweeter sauce — ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbsp evaporated milk, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp seasoning sauce, ¼ cup light soy, 3 tbsp oyster sauce and sesame — rested 2 hours, sun-dried until semi-dry, then frozen in batches and fried to order. The salty plate (TrueID, กินได้อร่อยด้วย): 1 kg haunch cut along the grain, coarse-pounded peppercorns and garlic, a full tablespoon of salt and one of sugar massaged in for 5 minutes, one hour of strong sun per side, fried with constant stirring — with its jaew: lime, fish sauce, a pinch of sugar, chilli flakes and toasted rice powder over sliced shallots, sawtooth coriander and spring onion. The minimalist plate (Bloggang): 800 g haunch, ½ tbsp flower salt, 2–3 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp palm sugar and a little rice bran oil massaged in — rest an hour, two hours of sun under a white cloth, fry in medium-hot oil, stirring non-stop.

The Method

1. The cut. Slice the collar into long strips — Kapook's standard is 1 cm thick, and TrueID cuts along the grain, on the argument that this keeps the meat moist and tender through drying and frying. Pitchameat's butcher agrees the collar, shoulder or haunch all work, so long as there is a little marbling.
2. The marinade. Pound the garlic and coriander roots fine and work them into the meat with the sesame, oyster sauce, pepper, fish sauce and sugar. Marinate 2 hours in the fridge — Bloggang massages rice bran oil in and rests the pork just one hour at room temperature instead.
3. The sun. Lay the strips on a rack or bamboo tray, no overlapping. In strong sun, about an hour per side until the surface tightens; Bloggang covers the tray with a thin white cloth against dust and insects. No sun, no problem: Wongnai dries the strips in a 50°C oven for 3 hours; Kapook's oven version runs 80°C for 4; Pitchameat uses 100°C for about 2.
4. The fry. Enough oil to cover, medium heat, and keep the strips moving — every source warns that the sugar burns fast. TrueID: the strips cook quickly, stir constantly so they colour evenly. Bloggang: don't walk away from the pan the way you would frying fish.
5. The plate. Drain well and serve hot with sticky rice and jaew — lime, fish sauce, sugar, chilli flakes and toasted rice powder, with sliced shallots, sawtooth coriander and spring onion. Unfried strips keep in the freezer for the next batch.

Where Thai Sources Disagree

How Western Versions Get It Wrong

• Turning it into jerky. The drying stops at semi-dry — a surface cure, not dehydration. Recipes that oven-dry the meat to leather before frying skip the point; the fry is the second cook, not a rescue.
• Slicing against the grain by reflex. The western reflex for tenderness is across the grain. Thai sources for this dish cut along it — TrueID is explicit that with-the-grain strips hold their moisture through the drying and frying.
• Leaving the pan alone. "Fry until golden" with one flip produces burnt sugar and raw centres. Every Thai source stirs constantly — the sugar caramelises fast and unevenly.
• Shallow-frying. EcoGo's Pantip instruction is blunt: deep-fry, and don't be stingy with the oil. Half-covered strips fry like jerky, not like moo dad deow.
• Serving it plain. The dish arrives with sticky rice and jaew as a package. A strip on a plate with ketchup is a different country entirely.

UK Ingredient Notes

• Pork collar: sold as neck end or spare-rib chop in UK butchers — ask for it by name; shoulder works well, and Pitchameat's butcher says haunch is fine too. Loin steaks are too lean and dry out.
• The sun: a warm, breezy UK summer day works; otherwise use the oven route — the lowest setting (50–80°C, door cracked open) for 2–3 hours, or a dehydrator at 50–60°C. The strips should feel tacky, not leathery.
• Fish sauce, oyster sauce, light soy and seasoning sauce: any Thai grocer, and most large supermarkets now stock Thai brands. Golden Mountain is the classic seasoning sauce.
• Sticky rice: Thai glutinous rice from a grocer, soaked and steamed — the only rice this dish really wants.
• Toasted rice powder (for the jaew): toast raw glutinous rice in a dry pan until nutty, then grind — or buy it ready-made at Thai grocers.
• Rice bran oil: any neutral oil with a high smoke point stands in for massaging and frying.

Sources

This recipe is translated from the following Thai-language sources. Where they disagree, we've said so.