Cantonese BBQ Pork 蜜汁叉燒

Cantonese are foodies and we like to eat! From stir fried, deep fried, steamed, dim sum and Cantonese BBQ. Like roasted duck, roasted pig, soy sauce chicken, salted baked chicken and Cantonese BBQ pork; just to name a few. Myself, I would love to make all kinds of BBQ at home but the equipment we have at home are very limited and most Cantonese BBQ needs commercial kitchen equipment to make it.  But this BBQ pork recipe will show you how we can make it with our very own kitchen oven.

So today I will show you how to make Cantonese BBQ pork in your own kitchen. It might taste a little different from the BBQ at a nice Chinese restaurant bcz they use gas BBQ oven box/stove and its special design to make BBQ. But I tried few times with my home oven, and the pork came out pretty juicy and tender! So let's cook!!

Ingredients

• 2lbs pork shoulder/butt (washed ,dried and cut 1/2 inch thick)
• 6 cloves garlic(sliced)
• 10 slices gingers(strips)
• 3 whole star anise
• 2 green onion(cut into 3 pcs)

Star anise can be found at your local ethnic or chinese market. If you have trouble finding it, a decent replacement is to use a little Chinese 5 Spice as it contains star anise powder in there (but the flavor profile will change slightly..)

 BBQ Sauce

• 5 tbs cooking wine
• 6 tbs hoisin sauce(some chef like to use Chu Hou sauce 柱候酱    but I like hoisin, bcz it's easy to get. Later I will post some recipe with Chu Hou sauce)
• 6 tbs gold label soy sauce
• 4 tbs honey
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 1/4 tbs red color(tomato color)(optional) skip the color if you don't like red BBQ pork
• 1 tbs sesame oil

The red food coloring will give it that signature color we know from Chinese BBQ. The honey and sugar will also caramelize the outsides of the pork and pork fat which taste very delicious at the end. You want to make sure to use the gold label dark soy as it has a richer soy flavor and darker color than regular soy sauce we use on a daily basis.

Marinating

In a big bowl, marinate the pork with garlic, ginger, star anise, green onion and all the seasonings. Use tongs or wear a glove to mix it evenly, and let it marinate for at least 2 hours (over night would be much better). Store it in the fridge if you want it to marinade over night.

Add in all the dry ingredients. They just need to be chopped enough so that they release their flavors into the marinade.

Add in the sauce/marinade we talked about above...

...then mix it all together! Make sure the sauce has coated the pork entirely. I suggest using gloves or tongs because the red food coloring will stain your hands pretty good.

Marinade this anywhere from 2 hours to half a day or even overnight. Overnight isn't necessary as the marinade will only permeate the meat's interior so much. So in other words, letting it marinade for 1 day to 3 days won't mean that on the third day the pork will be marinaded to the center.

Roasting

Pre Heat the oven for 5-10 minutes to 425 degrees, then place the pork on a roasting tray with rack.

You want to have the pork lifted like such so that it doesn't 'stew' itself in its own juices (like a pot roast). You want the outsides to caramelize and get crisp from the sugars in our marinade.

Let it roast for 40 mins.

Remember to let it cool before cutting! Your pork will look something like this.

The pork should be a little burn at the edges after 40 minutes, which is a good thing. The honey and sugar are caramelizing on the pork edges which are also super delicious. That's exactly what you want the pork to look like, a little burnt. Now take out the pork carefully and place it on a plate, let it cool off and rest for a little bit before slicing into it. Cutting into it too early will release moisture that we don't want leaving the meat. While the pork is cooling, in a small bowl mix 1 tbs honey with a couple tbs of water and brush the cooked BBQ pork with the honey-water mixture to give it an extra kick before chopping it! That's it,Honey BBQ Pork!

Glaze it with a honey+water solution while it's cooling to give it that nice sweet sticky kick!

Mmmmm I could just put this in a sandwich and call it a day...

There you have it! Look familiar???

This pork is great for home use for about a week. The hardest part is not eating a piece every time you open the fridge door. As I'm sure you know, Chinese use this style of pork in all kinds of different recipes from fried rice, noodle soup, stir fry dishes, and even sandwiches. So with that being said....

-DON'T FORGET-
****Save some for next recipe!****
We are going to use this pork in the next dish so save some for later!

Coming up next!
Singapore Mei Fun
星洲炒米

Proverbs 3:12
"for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights."

箴言3:12

"因為耶和華所愛的，他必責備， 正如父親責備他喜愛的兒子一樣。"

Spare Ribs-Lotus Root and Red Bean Soup-排骨蓮藕紅豆湯

On Cantonese dining table, there's one thing Cantonese must have on their table, soup! There are many types of soup and different types for every season. In the hot summer time, Cantonese like lighter soups- like fresh veggie soup, clear herb soup, melon soup, fish soup etc.

In the cooler weather, they like richer flavors and stronger soup. They like dry veggie soup, chicken herb soup, bone soup, and long simmered soup(at least 3-6 hr) sometimes even longer! So, soup on a Cantonese dining table can't be missed and it has become a part of the Cantonese culture. Like my Ma alway said, "Three dishes, one soup, and you can have as many bowls of rice as you want" "三餸一湯，白飯任裝” or in Mandarin "三菜一湯，白飯隨便盛” Lol!!

Let's COOK!

Ingredient 

• 11/2 lb lotus root( peeled and chuncked)
• 1/2 rack spare rib back ribs(chopped an inch length) 
• 1/2 cup red bean (soaked) -if you don't like red bean, raw peanuts work as well-
• 10 slices ginger

You can find these ingredients at your local Chinese Market.

Soak the red beans in water to start the rehydration. This will give them a nice soft texture at the end of the cooking process.

Lotus root?? 

It sounds very exotic to some but don't worry, it's not a scary thing. It's actually more common than you think when it comes to flavor. You can prepare similar as you would a potato or a yam- fried, sauteed, baked etc. It has these very interesting and unique patterning in the inside of the lotus root. You will notice this immediately once you slice into it.

So let's cut this guy open...

Use a peeler to get the outside skin off. Trim off the ends of each side.

Cut it in half lengthwise. 

Then cut those halves in half lengthwise again.

Cut them perpendicular to the the previous cuts to about an inch or so. 

Once done, set this aside while we prepare the precook for the ribs....

In a pot/pan, bring half pot of water to boil, then add in the ribs

Cut the ribs into cubes. This will make serving and eating the soup easier as a person can essentially eat this with just their spoon and mouth (instead of using two hands to hold it and eat it).

Let it boil 5 mins to cook off the dirty stuff and fat from the ribs. Drain it And set it aside

This par cook will remove any bone debris and help remove the excess fat on the pork. This will keep the final soup broth more pure and less greasy.

In a large crock pot, throw in all the goodies and fill it up with water (enough to cover the meat and  the lotus root). Let it cook about 1hr 30 mins on high mode, then 1hr on low mode.

The pork will start to release the rest of the oil towards the end of the process. So we must skim the fat off the top...

The meat will start to release the rest of its fat and oil from a long cook so use a scoop/spoon to skim out some of the excess oil from the top of the soup.

Once skimmed, the soup will look similar to this color. If you notice only a few bubbles of oil at the top, you did a proper job skimming off the excess grease (because otherwise, it'll look like an even layer of oil spread evenly across the soup).

Then add salt for taste.

All the rice I can eat??? Deal!

Soups served family style is a staple part of Chinese homecooking. Share this delicious recipe with your friends and family.

That's it, Spare-Ribs Lotus Root and Red Bean Soup 排骨蓮藕紅豆湯 Enjoy it!


Coming up next!
-Cantonese BBQ Pork-
-蜜汁叉烧-

Micah 7:18
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

彌迦書 7:18
"有何神像你，赦免罪孽， 不追究產業之餘民的過犯呢？ 他不永遠懷怒， 因為他喜愛憐憫。

EXTRA*** Fish Ball Seaweed Soup

Here is a quick and easy recipe to celebrate the cooler weather we are experiencing! I'll have another easy soup recipe for you later this week. Enjoy!
**For those who aren't familiar with 'fishballs'. They are made the same way you'd expect a meatball to be made but with fish meat instead. My American friends always give me a weird look when I bring up how tasty these things are. lol

Ingredients

• 11/2qt chicken stock 
• 12-16 pcs fish ball (cut into half or quarter) (any type of fish ball should be fine） 
• 1/2 patty of dry round seaweed(soak with water and drained) -dry seaweed usually comes 4 with patty per a beg-
• 4 slices ginger
• 1 green onion(chopped)
• 11/2 - 2 ts salt
• 1/2 ts chicken bouillon 
• 1 ts sesame oil

At your local (or not so local) Chinese Market.

Split the fishballs in half and portion out the amount you desire.

Dried seaweed flakes. They almost look like tea leaves. This will rehydrate in the soup giving it extra flavor.

Defrost these enough to cut. It's dangerous trying to cut a frozen meatball. You may be lucky enough to find these NOT frozen in the market but for the most part, they come that way (unless you make them yourself *wink).

Direction

 In a soup pot bring the stock ginger and a ts of sesame oil to boil in high heat, then add fish ball, let it boil for about 10 mins in medium/low heat.

Then add seaweed and let it boil couple mins.

Then add salt, chicken bouillon and green onion. Bring it back to a small boil to incorporate the seasoning and then cut the heat.

That's it! Easy and tasty!  (You can also cook some noodles in the meantime and make a noodle soup if you're feeling hungry).

More soup for you!
~Hoby