CHINESE BBQ PORK

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Slow42

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Oct 18, 2019
145
41
Atlantic Ocean Side of the world
CHAR SIU CHINESE BBQ PORK
My first attempt at Chinese BBQ pork. This stuff is great. Almost as good a pork ribs with less work. These are made from a pork Boston Butt and marinade over night to several days in the refrigerator. Lots of ingredients with some being hard to find. Amazon has most of the difficult to find ingredients. Can be done on the grill, in the oven or a combination of both, which I did. Getting ready to package and freeze.
 

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I make it often - usually in my oven and from pork shoulder. Last time I did it from belly and used the bronco charcoal smoker. It was good but a bit too fatty, I'll stick with shoulder next time

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Ingredients:
Sugar: 3/5 cup sugar or 130 g
Mei Kuei Lu Chew: 1/6 cup or 40 mL

Pork Shoulder Butt: 2.25 lb or 1 kg
Soy Sauce: 3/8 cup (6 tbsp) or 90 mL
Oyster Sauce: 1 tbsp
Hoisin Sauce: 1 tbsp
Ground Bean Sauce: 1 tbsp
Shallot: 1/5 cup or 47 g minced
Salt: 1 tsp
White Pepper: 1 tsp
Five Spice: 1.5 tsp
Ginger Powder: 1 tbsp
Garlic Powder: 1 tbsp
Dark Soy Sauce: 1 tsp
Sesame Oil: 1 tbsp

Glaze
1/4 cup water
1/2 Cup Brown sugar
150 Corn Syrup


Rub the sugar into the pork, then rub in the wine.
Marinate at least 3 hours.
Mix dry ingredients then add rest of ingredients
After 3 hours, rub the sauce into the pork and marinate 4-6 hours.
Cook at 325 for 30 minutes, basting at 15 minutes.
Remove the pork and raise oven to 400.
Glaze the pork well and put back in oven for 5-10 minutes. Turn oven off and let pork rest another 5 minutes. Internal temp should be 165.
 
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I loosely follow this recipe. When measuring spices I usually mound the measuring spoons to account for older spices as I don’t use some of these to often and it makes a big difference. Five spice powder is very powerful so be careful with that along with sesame oil. It says honey can be used in place of maltose. I disagree with that as the maltose is much more viscous and adds to that finger sticky sauce experience that honey doesn’t. It is very difficult to work with. Salt is subjective as people’s tastes vary wildly. I go on the light side. I think shaoxing wine is essential there is really no substitute. Maybe dry sherry. Then there’s the red dye I like the red color and used double the amount. There are natural ways to color it red but not as vibrant.
I use pork butt for all my recipes vs shoulder much less waste. I found the fatty sections are moister and tastier. The leaner parts are still very good, a little dry for me, especially for people you have an aversion to a lot of fat. I find it amazingly tender for such a short cook time. This also makes a great addition to pork fried rice.
Ingredients
Instructions
  • Cut the pork into long strips or chunks about 3 inches thick. Don’t trim any excess fat, as it will render off and add flavor.
  • Combine the sugar, salt, five spice powder, white pepper, sesame oil, wine, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, molasses, food coloring (if using), and garlic in a bowl to make the marinade (i.e. the BBQ sauce).
  • Reserve about 2 tablespoons of marinade and set it aside. Rub the pork with the rest of the marinade in a large bowl or baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least 8 hours. Cover and store the reserved marinade in the fridge as well.
  • Preheat your oven to the highest setting (475-550 degrees F or 250-290 degrees C) with a rack positioned in the upper third of the oven.
  • Line a sheet pan with foil and place a metal rack on top. Using the metal rack keeps the pork off of the pan and allows it to roast more evenly, like it does in commercial ovens described above. Place the pork on the rack, leaving as much space as possible between pieces. Pour 1 ½ cups water into the pan below the rack. This prevents any drippings from burning or smoking.
  • Transfer the pork to your preheated oven and roast for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, flip the pork. If the bottom of the pan is dry, add another cup of water. Turn the pan 180 degrees to ensure even roasting. Roast another 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, combine the reserved marinade with the maltose or honey (maltose is very viscous––you can heat it up in the microwave to make it easier to work with) and 1 tablespoon hot water. This will be the sauce you’ll use for basting the pork.
  • After 40 minutes of total roasting time, baste the pork, flip it, and baste the other side as well. Roast for a final 10 minutes.
  • By now, the pork has cooked for 50 minutes total. It should be cooked through and caramelized on top. If it’s not caramelized to your liking, you can turn the broiler on for a couple minutes to crisp the outside and add some color/flavor. Be sure not to walk away during this process, since the sweet char siu BBQ sauce can burn if left unattended. https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to/chinese-cooking-tools/#meat-thermometer
  • Remove from the oven and baste with the last bit of reserved BBQ sauce. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing, and enjoy.
 
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2 tablespoons maltose or honey

I originally used maltose in my recipe, but it's such a pain to work with so I switched to corn syrup and brown sugar. Not as thick as maltose, but thicker than honey so still makes a nice glaze.

I may also give the Shoaxing wine a try - the Mei Kuei Lu Chew I've been using has a very strong flavor - maybe a bit too strong.
 
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