Here are some thoughts on making Chinese Barbeque Pork and Crispy Roasted Pork. Have you ever tried or dreamt up creating Cantonese-style crispy roast chicken that you have come across at many restaurants? It requires five hours of air drying out and the bathing of the chicken in hot oil while attached to a hook, and the probable danger involved. With some practice and the right ingredients, you could make homemade Chinese Barbecued Pork (char siu) and Chinese Crispy Roast Pork (or siew yuk).

You must have to begin with the right cut of meat – pork belly. In our part of the world, we refer to it as pork flap – so when you go to get your meat to try either or both of these recipes, ask for the pork flap. Both of the recipes recommend this part of the meat but pork shoulder can work also but trust me, get the pork flap. When cooked, the meat will have perfect layers of fat and meat. The meat once cooked is sliced thinly so you don’t have to worry about consuming a allot of fat. Because these dishes are so flavorful, you will not find it necessary to overeat, okay, you might overheat because it is that good! Do not get any lean pieces of pork for these dishes, the texture and taste which are important will not be the same and the result will also be affected by the temperature of the heat used.

The Barbeque Pork (char siu requires marinating. A 24 to 48 hour marinating would be excellent but if only have a couple of hours is all you have, then so be it. The ingredients for the marinade can be bought in any good grocery store – sweet thick soy sauce, regular dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce along with regular pantry items like sugar and garlic is all you need. Roast it in a very hot oven for about 40 minutes flipping it once to guarantee even coloring. Let the meat rest, and then slice thinly. The juices captured in the pan can be made into a sauce to serve with the pork.

To make crispy roast pork (called siew yuk), it takes a few hours or an overnight marinate is all the time you need to infuse the meat with flavor. Salt, five-spice powder, ground black or white pepper, some ginger if you like, along with a little sugar and a couple tablespoons of regular white vinegar and you’re on way to making your own crispy roast pork. The main star in this dish is the skin, it becomes crackling. I swear you’ll find yourself focusing more on the cracking than the meat. It’s almost as if the meat is in the way of the prize.

The key to excellent crackling lies in the skin being really dry, not only at the outset but also during the cooking process. Hey, guess what makes the skin puff up and take us to crackling heaven? The high heat yes, but the secret is the vinegar! Think about it. Vinegar works in a variety of ways depending on what it is applied to – it cures, it preserves, it makes certain things shrink. It also provides balance to flavors in many dishes. What happens in this case of the roast pork is that the vinegar penetrates the skin of the pork naturally and due to the little slits made with your knife, and filters down to the fat and melts it; at the same time, it causes the skin to puff and become crispy all the while subtly flavoring the crackling skin! This sounds great!

By Cynthia Nelson