Pierre's Char Siu / 叉燒 / Char Siew / Chinese BBQ Pork

One exact week, right to the minute, after I had my 'Sunday Experiments' with Mel (and another Mel), 'Bubbly' Mel had her birthday dinner. No, I didn't cook then. She invited me to dine with our and her Wellingtonian friends. It was an epic night of laugh. Not being racist, there was a lot of NZer-of-East Asian descents on the table. It is great to see how generations adapt. I am grateful of being able to personally lived both worlds of the old and new generations.

Mecca, a friend whom I almost forgotten that I had actually cooked for him, lead a conversation about how he had just finished his first can of shaving cream. It took him 6 years. He went on about how his Indian flatmate had gone through 72 cans to the ratio of his 1 can. Then how he is from Hong Kong and felt bad on how badly is business for Gillette and Nivea Man over there.

As I were laughing my heart off, I realised that it was 'Sunday'. Unlike most Asian, I am somewhat more Westernised with my hair distribution. Ideally, I would have shave 2-3 times a week but I seemed to be lazy this year. So Sunday meant I had a good-going-for-Asian man-hair dangling. Definitely a little awkward to laugh with everyone else, who are mostly Asian guys.

Looking back, I actually got asked about how to grow a decent hair from a few Asian dudes. Those were definitely uncomfortable moments of my life. I certainly don't know the full answer but I do have my own non-medical-so-don't-quote-me-on-this opinion because not everyone in my family is 'blessed'. I figured:
1. It's in the Gene. Sorry guys.
2. Testosterone. Signs of high testosterone are greasy skin & hair, horny, pimples, deep voice, 'hair' everywhere and hair going away from the head. Boy! Teenhood was a mission pour moi.
3. Act like a man. Walk like a man. Talk like a man. Be a man. Man man man. (No offense to women, but this is what my uncle told me on how to approach any difficulties in life).
4. Men food. It's rather controversial: raw meat, egg, full fat things, you get the idea (just listen to your inner manhood). But balance them with lots of veges, you need the vitamin to grow the actual hair.
5. Shave more often. It is lame, I actually don't have to do this; but a lot of Asian friends of mine back in highschool did this, seems to work somewhat.
6. Sports. Sweats= more sweat glands=more hair. Plus more testosterone.
7. Alcohol. Coffee. Jazz. I'm just throwing things out there... hahaha.

Basically just try to be a Western boy, but remember your roots. I am proud to be a I'm-not-quite-sure-how-to-explain-myself-simply-in-exact-country-of origin Asian. If nothing works, remember what is not growing under your chin, you'll accumulate on top of your brain. Life will get you, it's fair you know.

After Mel's birthday dinner, I came home to a pleasant inspirational silence. I, partly 1/4 Chinese, trying to re-learn and re-define Chinese food whilst preserving its authenticity. I attempted to cook up Char Siu. Again it is probably influenced by fellow blogger like Pete@Peteformation Foodie Adventure, I-Hua@The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua and Michelle@The Bake-a-nista that things gradually fed in to my brain centre for cravings. Ding!

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight!"-Naturally 7

I think, with pride, I would say that this is the food that every Chinese kid will not hate. There are thousand of ways, from original to instant, to make it. Taste wise, most are the same but some are just distinctly transformed to a sweet nostalgia. I remember eating the most tender Char siu in Indonesia, Duck King. It was half-way to perfection. Why? It was tender and too tasty (too much umami) without any 'siu'(char-mark) on the meat. It was as seems as the pork was slowly stewed, not roasted. The idea bounced around in my head for years until recently.

This recipe is do-able in every kitchen because you don't need any oven. But! it does have a catch. You need to sous-vide the meat. Sous what?!?! OK technically this qualifies for sous-vide but I am going to show you how to make sous-vide without home vacuum gadget, which I don't have neither. This technique will save 20 times less energy bill than the conventional oven cooking at home. The end product is a medium-done super-tender, super-moist and fully-sterile piece of charred authentic char siu.

I am using an original recipe without colouring. Char siu get its own natural redness from the type of red preserved beancurd. The preservation is from the left-over residue of Chinese wine fermentation. Chinese people being Chinese, even the residues play a huge role in traditional Chinese cookery. Since I won't be using aromatic coal to char my meat, do use some woody honey to enhance the texture (and to smell like a man!). To make it easy for Chinese virgins, I am going to show you a picture of what's in what (stop thinking dirty thoughts).

Pierre's Char Siu/叉燒
yields 2 pork loins

2 pieces boneless pork loins (about 1/2 kg each)

2 ts Michiu (Chinese cooking wine) or gin
1 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
1/3 cup honey (manuka or other good quality woody honey)
1 1-inch red preserved bean curd plus 1 Tbs of the preserving liquid
2 Tbs Hoisin sauce
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1/2 ts Chinese five-spice powder
a pinch of white pepper
1 Tbs canola oil

1. In a bowl, mix everything except pork. Marinade pork 1 hour-1 day in a fridge.
2. Remove pork from marinade and set marinade aside. Using a plastic cling wrap, wrap and roll each pork loin with 5 turns of plastic cling wrap tightly. Cut. Wrap another 5 turns. Make sure everything is well sealed, so that water can't penetrate. Repeat for the other loin. In conventional clean supermarket plastic bags, wrap and roll each cling-wrapped loin in two piece of plastic bag each. Trust me, a little penetration in your loin, your life's ruined!
3. In a large saucepan, transfer the covered loins to the bottom of pot. Cover with water. The plastic bag may expand away, don't worry your loins are more protected than Durex condom protection. Do not stir or turn, just cover with water. Bring water to 60-70celcius very very very slowly and then keep at 60-70celcius(dip your hand, about 2 seconds before you feel pain) for 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix marinade with 2 Tbs water.
5. Measure a large frying pan roughly and cut a round non-stick baking paper to that size. Heat frying pan to smoking hot, lie the baking paper. Transfer the sous-vide pork loins. Grill. Non-stick baking paper helps retained the integrity of tender meat without excessive black carbon on the meat. Grill the meat for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally and spoon baste with the reserved marinade. If the marinade is drying and caramelising, add 1 Tbs water at a time to loosen the sauce. The meat should have some charred bits on it. The sauce should be thick at the end. Rest meat for 5 minutes. Cut to thick chunks. Serve!

And the heavenly angels sing,"Haaaaaaaaaaaa......." ;P

This isn't the end. Stay put for recipe of Char Siu Bao and other goodies!

Pornos!