I have been honoured by the local community TV channel (ShawTV) who have asked me to do a cooking show called You Can Make It. A lot of fun, right? Well, actually it is but there are some challenges. First, they have a shoe string budget so I buy all my own ingredients. Second they come out and only have a couple of hours to shoot. When you are doing a long smoke, that can make life interesting. In a recent show, I did Char Siu Pork and this gives you some idea how it goes.
First, I bought a whole pork shoulder. It was on sale so that was a consideration in doing this dish.
The day before the shoot, I trimmed the fat off the roast.
I cut strips off the pork until I got to the bones and then removed the bones and cut the rest into strips.
I had to do the strips in 3 batches to fit the shooting schedule. So I made a batch of marinade up and put 2 of the batches in the marinade to sit overnight. The recipe for the marinade is (for 1.5 kg (3 pounds)):
The morning of the shoot, I put 1/3 of the pork in a 230 F smoker a couple of hours before the smoke so it was cooked when the shooting started. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 155 F.
When the guys showed up for the shoot, I mixed more of the marinade. It all has to be measured in advance because they don't want any brand names showing.
I put the unmarinated pork in it and put it in the fridge. I then took out the second batch that had marinated over night. I put it over indirect heat on my Weber grill so the viewers could see a different way to cook it.
I then took the cooked pork off the smoker and cut it up for tasting on camera.
After the guys left, I finished smoking the batch on the grill in the smoker (I really prefer it smoked). The next day, I smoked the third batch.
I am not really whining. It is a lot of fun but it is also a lot of work. I ended up with a lot of Char Siu Pork but not as much as I thought I would. The batch that was cooked was eaten by the camera guys and my buddy immediately after the shoot. Also, can you ever have too much Char Siu Pork?
Disco
First, I bought a whole pork shoulder. It was on sale so that was a consideration in doing this dish.
The day before the shoot, I trimmed the fat off the roast.
I cut strips off the pork until I got to the bones and then removed the bones and cut the rest into strips.
I had to do the strips in 3 batches to fit the shooting schedule. So I made a batch of marinade up and put 2 of the batches in the marinade to sit overnight. The recipe for the marinade is (for 1.5 kg (3 pounds)):
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) soy sauce
- 30 ml (2 tablespoons) hoisin
- 3 ml (½ teaspoon) five spice
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) sriracha (could substitute 3 ml (1/2 teaspoon) hot pepper sauce)
- 250 ml (1 cup) brown sugar
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) red food colouring
The morning of the shoot, I put 1/3 of the pork in a 230 F smoker a couple of hours before the smoke so it was cooked when the shooting started. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 155 F.
When the guys showed up for the shoot, I mixed more of the marinade. It all has to be measured in advance because they don't want any brand names showing.
I put the unmarinated pork in it and put it in the fridge. I then took out the second batch that had marinated over night. I put it over indirect heat on my Weber grill so the viewers could see a different way to cook it.
I then took the cooked pork off the smoker and cut it up for tasting on camera.
After the guys left, I finished smoking the batch on the grill in the smoker (I really prefer it smoked). The next day, I smoked the third batch.
I am not really whining. It is a lot of fun but it is also a lot of work. I ended up with a lot of Char Siu Pork but not as much as I thought I would. The batch that was cooked was eaten by the camera guys and my buddy immediately after the shoot. Also, can you ever have too much Char Siu Pork?
Disco
