Juicy Barbecued Pork (Cantonese classic cuisine)

When I went to Cantonese restaurants with my parents, I was always attracted by their BBQ Pork (Cha Siu, or Cha Shao 叉燒) because of its lovely color in red and sweet fragrance. “Cha Siu” literally means "fork burn/roast". My mother said it’s better to use pork butt when roasting BBQ pork. Pork butt contains a lot of fat that results in moist, succulent meat after many hours of slow cooking with low heat.

Having moved to Australia, I have had less chances to go to Cantonese restaurants and Yamcha (飲茶). Well, it’s not bad though. I can learn to roast Cha Siu by myself at home. Traditionally, the masters who roast Cha Siu for Chinese restaurants would use a very huge oven. They skewer all seasoned boneless pork strips with long forks and place them in huge covered ovens so that all pork strips can be baked evenly and easily brushed with honey. However, we only have a moderate, home-size oven. How can we hang up a pork strip? Fortunately, my sister-in-law shared a trick with me. It’s very easy and simple. I’m very impressed with the result by using her trick. Now I can always enjoy professional-like, yet DIY kind of BBQ pork at home.

Ingredients:

• 700 gm pork butt
• 4 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee Barbecue Chinese Sauce (Char Siu)
• 1 tablespoon honey (or to your taste)

Seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger juice
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method:

1. Rinse and cut pork butt into strip(s) about 2 and half inch in width each. Add seasoning with Barbecue Chinese sauce (Char Siu sauce). Marinate the pork and put in a fridge. For a better result, marinate for overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 200C. Put seasoned pork strip(s) in a ceramic tray (oven-proof) with all the marinade, then cover with foil. Bake for about 50 minutes. Uncover and put away the foil, lower heat to 100C. Since then, you have to keep an eye on it. Spoon BBQ sauce over pork strip(s) every 10 minutes to keep moist. You might like to turn the other side of pork strip(s) to bake. Keep basting sauce over the pork to keep moist. When the sauce lessens and thickens, brush pork strip(s) with honey and bake for 20 minutes. After brushing on with honey, the pork would gradually turn red in color. If you’re satisfied with the color and the consistency of the gravy, it’s done.
3.  Let the BBQ pork stand for 10 minutes after taking out from oven. You’ll loose much juice inside otherwise. When the pork cool down a bit, cut and arrange it as desired. Don’t forget to go with the gravy inn oven tray. Excellent taste!

Tips:

1.  Remember to keep basting sauce over pork strip(s) whilst baking. It’s the key to success in baking succulent BBQ pork.
2.  Don’t brush any honey too early because you don’t want the pork to be burnt easily. Just apply when the pork is nearly done.

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