Char Siu Pork

Char siu or char siew is the Chinese Style barbecued pork; those are the red pork meat that hangs in front of some Chinese restaurants.  The word itself is a direct translation of “fork roast” which is the traditional way of cooking the dish where long strips of pork is placed in forks and cooked in an open fire or oven.  This popular Chinese dish is not just a dish on its own but very common ingredient as well, due to its distinct flavours where the pork is seasoned with a mixture of honey, five spice powder, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine and fermented tofu.  That seasoning makes the outer layer of the pork have that shiny reddish glaze.  Not just popular in China but as well as South East Asian countries, Japan and even the Pacific Rim.

Now in this post I will attempt to create my own for the first time as I want to use it as an ingredient to some of the noodle dishes I will be posting soon.  The reason why I am doing this as the char siu available here is a bit hard and sometimes dry and I want mine to be moist and juicy which is something like the Japanese style Char siu.

Ingredients

1 kg pork belly, cut into 8 strips
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp oil
6 tbsp honey
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. In a sauce pan mix together honey, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, white pepper, five-spice powder and sesame oil.  Heat it up and stir until thick in consistency.  Remove from heat and let it cool down.
2. In a container mix together the sauce, pork, garlic and oil.  Marinate for at least 24 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 220C. Add a rack to a roasting pan and fill the pan with water, then place the pork strips in the roasting rack.  Roast for 10 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to 160C and roast for a further 40 minutes while basting occasionally with the remaining char siu marinade.
5. Once cooked, rest for 5 minutes then slice into bite sized pieces then serve.