Char siu

Chinese BBQ Pork, a post form the road.  Tonight I will be making a heirloom recipe, Chinese BBQ pork a la Grandpa Kwock.  My sister-in-laws grandfather ran a Chinese deli and butcher shop in the Los Angeles area for several decades and developed this recipe from his family's own recipes.  It makes some allowances for the ingredients that were more prevalent in 1940's Los Angeles. Here is the recipe as written in his daughters hand.

2 tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
2tablesoons Soy Sauce (dark or regular, not light and never lite)
1.5 tablespoons Rice Wine (sha sing wine)
2.5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon catsup
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup honey

Mix first seven ingredients and place in a sealable pan or zip sealing bag.

Bone a pork butt, you can use up to 2 lbs of meat for this amount of marinade. Cut boned butt into 3" thick strips. Try to remove large hunks of fat.


Marinade pork strips for a minimum of 4 hours.  Quite frankly, to me, a minimum of 12 hours is necessary to get the right flavor and texture.


This recipe can be roasted in an oven for 45 minutes to an hour at 375F or roasted over a live fire (which is what I prefer) for the same.  The honey is used to baste the meat for the last 20 minutes, first one side for 15 minutes, then turn and baste top of meat for 5 minutes.


The final product should have burnt edges and a nice shiny red surface on the non-edge surfaces.


Pics and variations next post.