Sunday, May 4, 2008

BBQ Pork (Char Siu) - The Recipe

I've actually had quite a few people asking for the BBQ Pork Recipe I did awhile ago. Now, I don't mind sharing my recipes, but the problem is, I don't measure anything. My cooking style is very similar to Jamie Oliver's if not more erratic. Its a pinch of this, a shake of that, a 2 blobs of this, a shietload of garlic and add "enough" liquid to combine. So as my workmates going away present, I sat down and tried to work out what is a "recipe" for the BBQ Pork. I've never really tried this recipe, and I probably never will. But in my mind, its the closest to the quantities I *think* I put in...

Marinade:
1kg pork neck cut into strips
Lots of chinese BBQ Sauce - 1/2 cup or Hoisin (1/3 Cup as its a much stronger sauce)
Sherry or other alcohol - 1/4 cup? (Enough to loosen the bbq sauce)
Five spice powder - shietloads! 1 heaped tablespoon
1 tsp salt
10 tsp sugar
1/2 bulb of garlic
Honey or Maltose to glaze

Basically you need enough marinade to cover all the meat.

TIP: I always make my marinade first so I can taste test it and made adjustments before adding the raw meat. (Of course, I know lots of people who taste the marinade that has raw meat sitting in it...)

Marinate overnight (I had mines marinating for 24hrs )

Bake on a rack and using a tray to catch all the drippings. Add a little water to the tray to stop it burnin. Bake for approx 45mins at 180 (Time will vary depending on the size of the meat). Baste with the marinade throughout the whole process. 10mins before its cooked, baste with honey or Maltose and crank up the temperature. Once its nice and golden with little burnt black bits on the corner, then its all good to go!

Serve on a plate of steaming hot rice and boiled veggies. Drizzle with soya sauce or the marinade/drippings (Which you boil of course!)

Lets hope someone can try it out and tell me if its any good? hahaha Here are some photos of when I made it the other week. Since I was cooking for my dad, and he insisted that I cooked it the way we used to in the restaurant, we had to fashion up a Chinese BBQ stove by creating our own hooks:


Once the BBQ Pork was almost cooked, I took them off the hook and put it onto the rack where I can glaze them properly:


Due to time constraints, I couldn't "burn" them as much as I would've liked. Damnit! Need to cook earlier next time to everyone isn't starving:


Finished product:


Damn it was good!! And no horrible added colouring staining my rice all read! Oh, and I've come up with a draft plan to build my own Chinese Charcoal BBQ Stove in the backyard specifically for making BBQ Pork and Roast Pork. Lets see when I can get off my lazy ass and actually build the stove!

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