Recipe ingredients and directions:
The pork with the reddish tint is called "char siew" (I don’t know
whether this is mandarin or cantonese or both, but it is what you’ll
find it called).
There are numerous acceptable but sorta substandard commercial
preparations, none of which will give the deep red tint, but the
flavour is OK if you can’t make it any other way and it’s only an
addition to a dish (say, a combination soup). If you want a good
product, or you wish to make, a dish which is predominantly char
siew, you should make it from scratch or buy it.
The cut of pork is normally called "butt" in recipes. Don’t use
tenderloin. It’s not fatty enough, and the amount of cooking which
is required to give a deep red colour means that some fat in the
meat is needed to protect against dryness. Pork neck is a great
cut for this (and for any roast), and is cheap.
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon soy
1 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dry sherry or chinese cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
MSG (optional)
A few drops red food colouring
Cut pork into the familiar strips (don’t trim fat).
Roast in medium/hot oven on a rack over a baking pan. Cover baking
pan in foil, or this can make a mess. Roast, basting with marinade,
until dark red. A little charring on the edges is acceptable.
If you are going to cook the pork again, say, in a stirfry, you
might want to roast it just a little less. A better idea is to
co-ordinate the roasting with the rest of the cooking, so you can
just pop the still-warm pork into the sauce or vegetables or
whatever.
Category: Asian Recipes
