super nice char siu

made super nice char siu last evening! 🙂

was doing a 5-course dinner for 8pax, and evolved & tried out a new recipe for my miso belly pork, which turned out excellent. had a small leftover cut of belly pork, no point returning to the freezer so might as well cook it. had been trying out marco pierre white crackling belly pork recipe & other chinese roast pork recipes which were ok taste-wise but abject failures when it came to the crackling skin.. so decided instead to duplicate the miso belly pork recipe on char siu. 🙂

melt-in-the-mouth tender

char siu – so happy!

char siu – so happy!

i added boiling water to the excess belly cut & cleaned it thoroughly in slow running cold water. i then prepared the char siu sauce mix, covered the belly pork in char siu marinade in an oven dish & placed it in the chiller for 2days.

on the day of cooking, i brought the char siu out of the fridge & placed it in the oven set at 60degC for 4 hours (i was lazy to bring the pork to room temperature for 1 hour outside the fridge as it was a long 4hr low-temperature cooking & one could adjust the timing by 15mins to compensate for the lower starting chiller temperature). after 2 hours, i turned over the belly pork & placed it back in the oven. at 4 hours i removed the belly pork & placed it on a rack over a aluminium foil lined oven tray. i preheat the oven to 250degC while putting the char siu sauce in the oven dish to the microwave oven for 10mins to reduce the sauce. i then brushed the thicken sauce on both sides of the belly pork & returned it to the preheated oven at the top rack & turned to broiler function for 10mins, then turned over & repeated for 5 mins.

the result was a super nice char siu, very tasty & melt-in-the-mouth tender. 🙂

N.B. i did the miso belly pork pan-charred instead of oven broiled & it came out excellent, so will try pan-charred on char siu next time. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• belly pork (300g)

for the char siu sauce

• 2 tbsp lee kum kee char siu sauce
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp red colouring (can skip this or add more ketchup for colouring)
• 3/4 cup shaoxing wine

Directions:

1. clean & marinade – add boiling water to remove scums & clean thoroughly in slow running cold water. combine the char siu sauce mix together & stir to dissolve the sugar. cover the belly pork in char siu marinade in an oven dish & place in the chiller for 2days.
2. cook –  bring the char siu to room temperature (1/2 hour) & place it in the oven set at 60degC for 4 hours. after 2 hours, turn over the belly pork & place it back in the oven. at 4 hours remove the belly pork & place it on a rack over a aluminium foil lined oven tray. preheat the oven to 250degC while putting the char siu sauce in the oven dish to the microwave oven for 10mins to reduce the sauce. brush the thickened sauce on both sides of the belly pork & return it to the preheated oven at the top rack & turn to broiler function for 10mins, then turn over & repeat for 5 mins. the result was a super nice char siu, very tasty & melt-in-the-mouth tender.