PorkBelly Charsiu

Cha-siu’s best made with good “3-layer” skinless pork belly. I’ve tried making it several times with different recipes and different cuts of meat. The best recipe the last time I made cha-siu was cooking pork belly in a pot using palm sugar (Cheat’s Cha-Siu (Palm Sugar “BBQ-ed” Pork)).

PorkBelly Charsiu 1

recipe adapted from Chef and Sommelier

“The perfect cha-siu should be slightly charred, shiny and caramelised on the outside, tender and juicy inside. Once in the mouth, your taste-buds will explode with flavour – sweet and savoury and the right balance of fat layers simply melt in your mouth.”

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg pork belly (or tenderloin), cut into 2-3cm thick slices, lengthwise
  • 500ml apple (or pineapple) juice – optional

Marinade Ingredients:

  • 200g sugar
  • 100g oyster sauce
  • 4 tbsp chinese rice wine (I used mirin)
  • 1 tbsp light soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
  • 1 pc red fermented bean curd (with 1 tbsp of its liquid)

timetable

recipe

    Serves 4-6
    Prep time 10mins+overnite
    Cook time 30mins
    Total time overnite+50mins
overnite++
total time

Preparation:

  1. Pat dry pork.
  2. Tenderise pork in apple (or pineapple) juice for 3-4 hrs (if doing this). Remove and pat dry.
  3. Mix all marinade ingredients in a container with lid and leave pork to marinate overnight in fridge.
  4. Heat oven to 240C in grill and fan-assisted mode.
  5. Grill pork strips for 10 mins on each side, allowing juice to drip into a baking tray below. (If using tenderloin, reduce cooking time to abt 8-9 mins on each side as these are thinner cuts). (I only grilled my pork belly slices on 3 sides except the bottom meat side.)
  6. Meanwhile bring leftover marinade to a boil for abt 5 minutes or until it thickens (it took abt 10 mins). Brush sauce onto pork while grilling (every time slices are turned) until each side of pork slices are nicely charred.
  7. When done, rest cha-siu and reapply a coat of thickened sauce to give it a lovely shiny gloss.
  8. Slice and serve with noodle or rice and some vegetables.

notes:

  • I’d recommend using abt 160-180g, if reduced sweetness is preferred..
  • Keep leftover sauce and use it like the American bbq sauce in a bottle..

PorkBelly Charsiu 3

Both Dunster and I’d a really good dinner, serving the Cha-Siu with some slices of homegrown tomato and simple stirfried homegrown longbeans.
PorkBelly Charsiu LongBeans Tomato 1
This is a definite to-keep recipe..



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