char siu siew

 

https://madewithlau.com/recipes/char-siu-chinese-bbq-pork

Ingredients:

• 907 g pork shoulder (

  or a fatty cut, more on this later

  )
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp red wine
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 cube red fermented bean curd
• 1 tsp five spice powder

For basting:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp water

Step 1: Prepare & poke meat

We'll cut our pork shoulder (907 g) into long slices, roughly about 1 inch thick.

We'll aim to cut each slice with uniform thickness so they cook at the same rate.

Afterwards, we'll repeatedly poke each side of each slice with a fork to help the pork absorb our marinade more effectively.

Step 2: Prepare marinade

To a bowl, we'll add:

• garlic salt (1 tbsp)​
• brown sugar (4 tbsp)​
• oyster sauce (2 tbsp)​
• light soy sauce (2 tbsp)​
• hoisin sauce (1 tbsp)​
• red wine (2 tbsp)
• Shaoxing wine (1 tbsp)
• red fermented bean curd (1 cube)
• five spice powder (1 tsp)

This amount can be adjusted based on the amount of pork you'll be making.

Mix the marinade until it's evenly distributed and smooth.

Step 3: Marinate pork

Place the meat into a ziploc bag, pour the sauce in, and massage the pork for about 2 minutes so that the sauce is able to finesse its way into the meat. Afterwards, we’ll push all the air out of the bag and seal it. 

Place the bag in the refrigerator, and let the pork marinate overnight (or around 6 to 8 hours.)

Some notes:

My dad says to not let it marinate for over 24 hours, or else it will affect the tenderness of the meat.

If you're planning on cooking it on the same day, then you don't need to place it in the refrigerator. The pork will stay fresh due to the marinade.

If you refrigerated the pork, let it sit for about 1 hour to bring it to room temperature before starting to cook it.

Step 4: Prepare char siu for oven

Preheat the oven to 425° F or 218° C.

Set up the baking pan by lining the bottom with aluminum foil (so it's easier to clean!), and place the baking rack on top of the foil.

Using tongs, start laying out the pork on the baking rack + pan.

Add 1-2 tbsp of water to the bottom of the pan to help generate some steam as the char siu cooks, and to help prevent the drippings from burning and smoking.

Carefully place it in the oven.

Step 5: Repeat several cycles of cooking and basting char siu

Now, we’ll be placing the pork into the oven and taking it out periodically to lather it again with either our leftover pork marinade, or honey (2 tbsp) diluted with water (2 tsp). 

Here’s how my dad split up the cooking time:

Cook for 15 minutes and lather both sides with the pork marinade

Cook for another 15 minutes and lather both sides with pork marinade again

Cook for 10 minutes and lather both sides with the diluted honey

And finally, we’ll turn the heat up to 450° F, cook for another 5 minutes, lather both sides with honey, and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting into it. 

In total, this was about 50 minutes in the oven. 

Step 6: Final touches, let cool, cut & enjoy!

Once the char siu has finished its last cycle in the oven, we'll lather each side with our diluted honey.

Let the char siu cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into it.

And finally... enjoy!