Char Siu (叉燒)

Char siu is one of the most famous elements of Cantonese and Hong Kong cuisine. It appears in a variety of dishes, some of which will be forthcoming on No Free Lunch. I consulted with both Dad and Grandpa on this one, who both made this when I was growing up. In fact, Grandpa said he generally always has some stocked up. I've come up with my own recipe using suggestions from both of them. The liquor is Dad's recommendation. I would have used Shaoxing rice wine if I'd had it, but a shot of Jameson will do. Some restaurants and delis add red food coloring, but that's not necessary at home.

You can use any cut of pork you want, really. This time, I used four pieces of pork butt steak, totaling just over three pounds. This cut has some nice marbling on it. Pork loin works just fine, too. The cut you use will affect the flavor and texture, so experimentation is good. The two "exotic" ingredients here are the ground bean sauce and the fermented bean curd. Both are soy bean-based products. I had to get these from a Chinese grocery. The ground bean sauce seems pretty standard, but the fermented bean curd was harder to find. Mine came in a delightful little clay pot with a plastic bag tied up with a string inside. Sometimes, even often, China is great.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds (approx.) pork butt
• 1/3 cup ground bean sauce
• 1/3 cup red fermented bean curd
• 1 tbs honey (more if desired)
• 1 tbs whiskey
• 1/2 tsp five spice powder
• Water

Instructions

Remove any bones from the pork and cut into strips. Trim off excess fat from the sides, though you want to have some fat throughout. Place the pork into a large bowl or Ziploc bag. Add the ground bean sauce and fermented bean curd, with some of the juice from the bean curd. Crush up the bean curd and add a little water to thin out the marinade. Add honey, whiskey, and five spice powder, and mix thoroughly so all the pork is coated. If using a bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 5 hours. Don't leave it much longer than that to preserve the texture.

Preheat broiler. Line a large sheet pan with foil and lay out the pork pieces. Brush excess marinade over each piece. Broil until browned, then turn over each piece and broil until the other side is browned. The pork will be cooked through, as the pieces should be fairly thin. I did about 8 minutes on each side. To serve, cut into thin slices.

There are a lot of possibilities for serving char siu. Char siu bao (barbecue pork buns) are a dim sum favorite. It's also great with steamed rice or as part of chao mian (pan fried noodles), as seen above. Char siu is also a key component of the venerable Yangzhou fried rice. You can keep cooked the pork pieces in the freezer until needed.