Can We Please Make Our Own Char Siu?
This is what Ben asked me, all wide-eyed and in a devilishly innocent how could you possibly refuse me? tone last Monday. Char Siu is one of Ben's most beloved dishes. It reminds him of family meals and late-night snacks with his bff, Brandon. The epitome of comfort food, you could say. How could I refuse? "Of course we can, gorgeous", I assured him.
Right.
How on earth do I make Char Siu?...
After some googling and tweeting for advice, I stumbled upon this recipe (link here). The sauce sounded great, and I had most of the ingredients on hand, all I needed was to duck out to the shops for some Hoisin Sauce and the pork.
Many recipes use pork belly, but we were after a lean cut of meat, and so we opted for pork eye fillet, which we marinated for 8 hours.
The cut worked perfectly, it was incredibly succulent and adopted a beautiful, plum coating. In our oven, the pork took 45 minutes to cook (turning the fillets halfway through and brushing with honey, as is instructed in the method). I reserved the marinade and whilst the meat was resting, added it to the roasting pan and reduced the sauce down on the stove.
We served our char siu with stirfried bok choy and steamed rice, over which we poured the reduced pan sauce. It was de-li-cious!
Ben and I were in a state of pure happiness over dinner. The flavour balance was perfect, it was just what he and I had wanted. We we felt all warm and fuzzy inside as we delighted in our homemade Char Siu. Craving entirely satisfied, comfort mission accomplished, and snap!... another recipe is added to our favourites list.