Participating in Appetite for China’s Chinese New Year Virtual Potluck – Chinese Barbecued Pork (Char Siu)

Since I had so much fun making the Dan Dan Noodles for the virtual potluck over at Appetite for China during the week, I thought I’d give another recipe a shot over the weekend.  The Chinese Barbecued Pork (Char Siu) jumped out because, well, we are meat lovers! And I loved the idea of being able to tell my mom, see, you really don’t need to buy those Lee Kum Kee Char Siu sauce to make Chinese BBQ Pork, all can be made from scratch:

Chinese Roast Pork / Chinese Barbecued Pork

(recipe clipped directly from http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/cantonese-roast-pork-char-siu ; Don’t forget to check out Diana’s book “The Chinese Takeout Cookbook” on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Takeout-Cookbook-Dishes-Prepare/dp/034552912X/ where this recipe can also be found.)

Serves 4 to 6 as part of a multi-course meal

• 1 pound pork belly, unsliced with skin trimmed off (we left the skin on since it’s my boyfriend’s favorite!)
• 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, or substitute regular soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tablespoon hoisin sauce
• ½ teaspoon five-spice powder
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. In a large bowl, mix together the rice wine, dark soy sauce, sugar, garlic, hoisin sauce, and five-spice powder. Rub the pork belly with the marinade mixture and marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Rub the excess marinade off the pork belly (but don’t rub it all off!) and place in a roasting pan. Brush the top with the honey. Roast the pork for 40 to 45 minutes, flipping the pork belly over half-way through and brushing honey on the other side. The pork is done when the outsides begin to crisp and blacken, and the center of the pork belly strip feels firm.
3. Remove the pork from oven and let it cool for a 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into thin slices. Arrange the slices on a plate and serve, either plain as part of a multi-course meal, or with rice or noodles.

I used every listed ingredients and left the meat in the marinade for about 8 hours. The pork belly in my freezer was already sliced. Next time though, I’ll probably go for a much leaner cut. As roasting the pork belly really makes the fat parts chewy, not like braising would make it soft. Our entire kitchen was filled with authentic Chinese BBQ aroma and it was so hard to wait for the Char Siu to cool off before digging in. The Chinese five spice powder was a killer touch! Thanks to Diana. It reminds me of the meat in Cantonese style Zongzi (rice dumplings or Chinese tamale).

We ate about half of it in one sitting! The next day, I sliced the leftover very thin (much easier to slice now that they’ve been in the fridge and had time to harden up), added a little bit of red food coloring to make it look more like Char Siu in a BBQ-joint, and made a delicious stirfry with asparagus and fermented black beans. Now that’s something we could eat all week long!