Ingredients
- 1 pound or 450g boneless pork collar shoulder – ask for a fatty one from the butcher. (in Chinese, it’s known as Mui Tau 梅頭 or elsewhere it’s also known as Boston Butt cut). If you can find it and/or afford it, get an Iberico pork collar (strongly preferred!) or Berkshire/Kurobota or any heirloom pig version
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- Marinade:
- 1 heaping Tbsp. red fermented tofu (nam yu 南乳)
- 2 Tbsp. Chinese mei kuei Liu chiew rose liqueur 玫瑰露酒 + 2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce, both mixed to a paste with 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic and 1 tsp. minced peeled ginger in the blender
- 1 heaping Tbsp. white sugar
- 1 heaping Tbsp. Chinese or regular dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp. sesame oil (TFD endorses only Kadoya brand!)
- 1/4 tsp. freshly-ground white pepper
- 1 Tbsp. Hoisin Sauce
- 1 Tbsp. shio-koji (for seasonings and tenderizing)
- 2 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
- 1/2 tsp. Korean Gochujang chili paste (WILDLY optional TFD change, omit for original)
- 3 Tbsp. chicken stock (homemade or low-sodium commercial)
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- Basting Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp. maltose, microwaved with 1 Tbsp. boiling water for 30 seconds to make a syrup
- 1 Tbsp. Yunnan Lemon Honey jam (Wildly optional TFD change, replace with honey or maltose for original recipe)
- 2 tsp. red fermented tofu liquid from the jar
- 1 Tbsp. Judge Casey’s brand Curry Ketchup (TFD optional addition, omit for original recipe)
- 3 Tbsp. cooking oil (canola or peanut oil work best)
Instructions
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Prepare the pork. Slice the pork into long strips about 1-1.5 inch thick, 2 inch wide, about 7 inches long.
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Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl completely. Put both the meat and marinate in a large bowl or Ziploc bag and rub the marinate around the meat. Keep the bowl or bag in the refrigerator for a few hours or preferably overnight – no more than 24 hours though or the meat will become tough – TFD prefers 16 hours. Turn the pork a few times during the marinating process. Keep in the fridge until ready.
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Take the meat out, discard the marinade and let the meat sit out for 1 hour to bring to room temperature before cooking. Place the meat in a sous vide plastic bag and vacuum seal. Set the Immersion Circulator at 60C and cook the meat sous vide for 2 hours.
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Once done, prepare an ice water bath and plunge the bags of pork directly into the ice water. Once cool – open the bag, take out the pork and move to the final step of finishing off the pork.
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Preheat your oven to the highest temperature it can go. Pour some water into a roasting pan. Over the pan, place a large wire rack that fits over the top of the pan.
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Thoroughly dry the surface of the pork as best as you can using kitchen towel, and then brush as much of the finishing glaze onto the strips of pork as you can – you want it thick.
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Lay the pork on the wire rack (and over the water in the roasting pan). Put the pan in the oven for 10 minutes or until the surface of the char siu is nicely charred. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn – you want charred!!! Alternatively, instead of using the oven blowtorch the pork until charred.
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The pork should rest for 5 minutes before cutting. The meat should look juicy, glazed, and slightly charred on the edges. The meat should have an internal temperature of 155°F-160°F (68°C-71°C) checking on the thickest portion of the meat. If the pork does not have some charred bits, you can always turn on the broil at the end for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute.
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You can serve the meat on its own – just slice it to your preferred thickness (I normally cut it thin for leaner cut and thick for fat cut), or as depicted in the classic God of Cookery movie starring Stephen Chow, serve it on top of a bowl of steamed rice, an egg done sunny side up and a gentle splash of sweet soy sauce, in the version now known as the “Ravishing Char Siu Rice” (黯然銷魂飯) thank to the movie.
