BBQ Pork/Char Siu 南乳叉燒

Char Siu with Red Sauce

I love it when the supermarket has pork butt for sale. It means we can have homemade char siu. It is important not to use the part of pork that is too lean; otherwise it will get very tough. Pork shoulder or butt is ideal since it has some, not too much, fat in between the lean meat.




Ingredients:
2.5 lb            Pork shoulder/butt or neck meat

Marinade:
3 cloves        shallots, chopped    
6 cloves        garlic, chopped
5 tbsp            sugar
1/2 tbsp         salt  (original recipe calls for 1 tbsp but it is too salty)
1 tbsp            chicken powder
1 tbsp            sesame paste
1 pcs             fermented red beancurd, crushed  
2 tbsp            soy sauce
1/3 tsp           five spices powder
1 tbsp            rose wine

1)  Cut the pork into long stripes, no thicker than 2 inches.
2)  Mix all the marinade together and pour onto the pork. Marinate at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 hour. Turn once in a while to make sure it is evenly marinated.

3)  Preheat oven to 480⁰F. Put the pork onto a rack, which has a tray underneath to catch the drippings.
4)  Roast for 15 minutes. Turn the pork and roast again for another 15 minutes.
5)  Turn down the oven to 350⁰F. Take out the pork and brush honey on one side. Roast again for 10 minutes. Turn to the other side. Brush with honey and roast again for another 10 minutes.

Notes:
1)  Make sure you put the pork on top of a rack so it would not be sitting on the drippings and the heat can penetrate it better.
2)  You can find all of the above ingredients in any Asian supermarket.
3)  You do not need to marinate it over night. All you need is to cut the meat no thicker than 2 inches so that the marinade can penetrate into the meat in less time.
4)  The original recipe calls for a honey sauce with ginger. But I found that it is so much easier to use just honey out of the bottle.
5)  I found it helpful to add a teaspoon of the red beadcurd juice to the marinade. It helps to heighten the color. The red color is from one of the ingredients: red rice, not artificial color.

Recipe modified from "Homemade Siu Mei and Luo Mei" by Chan Wai.

南乳叉燒

我試過不同食譜做叉燒,又用過在市面買得到的叉燒醬,但無論味道,色澤都不及這個做法好食。我選擇用夾心肉,因價錢相宜,瘦中帶些少肥。

材料:

2磅半        夾心肉或豬頸肉
      

醃料:

3粒          乾葱,切成茸        

6粒          蒜頭,切成茸
5湯匙      糖                
半湯匙    鹽                
1湯匙      雞粉
1湯匙      芝麻醬        
1件          南乳 ,壓成茸
2湯匙      生抽            
1/3 茶匙  五香粉       
1湯匙      玫瑰露酒    

1)  將肉切成長條形,約二寸厚。

2)  把醃料混合拌勻,放入肉,醃半至至一小時,不時翻動。

3)  預熱焗爐至480⁰F,將肉放在焗架上,焗15分鐘,取出翻轉,再焗15分鐘。

4)  將爐火降至350⁰F,取出肉,塗上蜜糖,焗10分鐘,取出,翻轉,塗蜜糖,再焗10分鐘便成。

注意事項:

1)  將肉放在架上焗可以焗得更均勻及乾身。

2)  不用醃過夜,只要將肉切成少於二寸厚便會更入味。

3)  原本食譜鹽的份量是1湯匙,但太鹹了。

4)  原食譜用麥芽糖加薑汁做蜜汁,但用蜜糖比較方便。
5)  我發覺加一、兩茶匙南乳汁於醃料內可加强叉燒的色澤。南乳的紅色是來自紅粬米,不是人工色素。

食譜改編自陳偉:『在家做燒味』