Manageability – Decent, if you have the right stove.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – pork belly is finicky. Cooking it properly, so that it’s tender and firm but not burnt is a delicate and intricate dance with your stove. And much like the Tango, the Cafe Delites’ Sticky Chinese Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu) is a sexy, classy, and delicious piece…
…if you have the right stove settings. Not to be too much of a spoiler alert, but I don’t. I don’t have an oven that can broil at a specific temperature (in this case – Medium/350). That’s why we had to get kindof old-school, and cook in the oven at 350 while broiling in between. The end result was still flipping fantastic, but if you are working with a regular oven, know that you can still tame this beast, you will just need to bounce back and forth between cooking and broiling.
As far as flavor, this is crazy full of it. Tangy, sticky, sweet, and oh-so juicy. I could see myself having this for my last meal. Although that means I’m on death row, and trust me whoever I killed they had it coming.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinese Shaoxing wine (rice vinegar or a dry sherry can be used instead)
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon red food coloring (optional for that beautiful red color, or “colour” if you fancy)
- 1 ⁄2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 6 pork belly/spare ribs
- 1 shallot , to garnish
Additional Glaze (Optional):
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese wine (Shaoxing — or dry sherry)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1/4 teaspoon red food coloring, or “colouring” if you fancy
Instructions
- Combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce, wine, honey, sugar, garlic, coloring (if using) and spice powder in a shallow bowl. Whisk well to combine. Pour half of the sauce into a jug and reserve for later. Add the pork into the bowl with the remaining sauce. Rotate to cover completely and marinate in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours, or cover and refrigerate overnight for best results.
- After marinading, preheat oven to grill/broil settings on medium heat (176°C | 350°F). Drain pork and discard the marinade. Line a baking pan with baking/parchment paper or aluminium foil. Place pork onto pan and grill/broil for 30 minutes on one side, basting two or three times with the reserved marinade. Rotate with tongs and baste again with the marinade twice again while grilling/broiling.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. Just fucking leave it alone, man.
- If you like additional glaze, combine all of the (extra) glaze ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5-8 minutes until the sauce has thickened (keep your eye on it as it can burn easily if the heat is too high). Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Cut pork into thick slices to serve. Serve over steamed rice and/or vegetables with the extra glaze.