Cooking TBD: Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu)

Chinese BBQ Pork is such a great snack. I enjoy it both cold or hot, either way the meat is very tender and juicy the cut of meat I used was $4.74 for the two pounds and there is plenty of great things that can be made of the leftovers such as: fried rice, steamed pork buns, Vietnamese Spring rolls, egg rolls, dumplings etc.. The list just goes on and on!

You can also buy a store bought Chinese BBQ sauce but I like to make my own and freeze the extras to use as a dipping sauce for my Gyoza. Make Char Siu Bao Pork Buns.

*Ingredients can be found at your local Asian food market*

Chinese BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

3/4 cup rice cooking wine

4 teaspoons sesame oil

3/4 cup sugar

5 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 of a onion, cut into chunks (save the other half for later)

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 1inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons cold water

Pork Ingredients:

1 2lb boneless pork sirloin roast, cut length-wise to make two 1lb roasts

1/2 of a onion, cut into chunks

1 1inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice cooking wine

1 tablespoon sesame oil

water for boiling

Sauce Directions:

1. Mix water and cornstarch together until smooth, set aside.

2. To a medium-sized pot add; all sauce ingredients, adding the cornstarch water mixture in last.

3. Whisk and heat to low-medium, simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon (watch it and do not let it burn on the bottom). Sauce should have thickened a good amount, remove from heat and pour through a strainer, set the sauce aside to cool.

Pork Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, to the water add; ginger, garlic, onion, crushed pepper flakes, sugar, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and lastly pork roasts. Let cook for 3 minutes.

2. Remove pork from water and pat dry with paper towels, generously baste all sides of the pork, and transfer to a roasting pan with a wire rack in the bottom. Pour 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pan, this will steam the pork and prevent the sauce drippings from burning on the bottom of the pan.

3. Transfer roasting pan to oven cooking for 30-35 minutes basting every 10 minutes. The pork is done when a meat thermometer shows 155 degrees F.

4. Let rest for 15 minutes, then thinly slice and enjoy with toasted sesame seeds. Some enjoy spicy Chinese mustard and soy sauce for dipping.