Char Sui pork

[Alastair70]

Didn’t get any photos, sorry, but No1 son claims its the best thing we’ve cooked so far, so I thought I’d share the recipe.

1.5kg Pork shoulder served 5

Marinade
50g Caster Sugar, 2tsp salt, 1/4 tsp 5-spice, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 15 ml rice wine, 15 ml soy sauce, 15 ml hoisin sauce, 2 tsp golden syrup, 3 cloves mince garlic, 1/8 tsp red food colouring.

Save 2 tbsps of the marinade for cooking day and smear the rest over the pork.
I vacuum packed it for a sous vide, but this will work in a low oven too. Marinade in the fridge overnight.

Day 2, the plan was to sous vide for 8 hrs at 55C but I forgot to put it on so it got 3 hrs at 90C instead. Then it was transfered to a preheated oven dish at 180C for 30 minutes. The reserved marinade was mixed with 2tbs runny honey and 2tbs of cooking juices from the sous vide bag and the pork was basted repeatedly until crispy and charred on the outside.

Served up with No1’s signature veg fried rice.

I’m not sure if it’s actually the best thing we’ve cooked together, but it’s definitely top three.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Sounds great Alastair i might try that cheers

 

[Oneflewover]

I love Char Sui flavours, but I stopped eating meat, other than fish, this year. I know it works sooooo well with pork, wonder if it would work with a fish or tofu based dish?

 

[Alastair70]

I love Char Sui flavours, but I stopped eating meat, other than fish, this year. I know it works sooooo well with pork, wonder if it would work with a fish or tofu based dish?

Pork is the perfect meat to carry the sweet/sour/umami flavour combination of the marinade.
I’m not sure how it would translate to other options. I’m really not the best with cooking fish and only do veggie 3 or 4 times a year, and always when entertaining veggie friends.
We need someone to start another thread!

 

[Brewnaldo]

Just leave the pork shoulder whole aye? Then slice when cooked?

 

[Alastair70]

Just leave the pork shoulder whole aye? Then slice when cooked?

Absolutely. I kept back some of the cooking juices to keep it moist in the oven but I didn’t need them. Next time it’s getting finished on the Kamado with a load of mesquite chips, I expect I’ll be using them then.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Absolutely. I kept back some of the cooking juices to keep it moist in the oven but I didn’t need them. Next time it’s getting finished on the Kamado with a load of mesquite chips, I expect I’ll be using them then.

Aww man I just thought of this with a slab of pork belly.....

I will defo be trying your recipe iv never managed to find a char sui recipe worth the name so I look forward to this.

 

[Alastair70]

Aww man I just thought of this with a slab of pork belly.....

I will defo be trying your recipe iv never managed to find a char sui recipe worth the name so I look forward to this.

It would work really well with any cut of pork. I’ve cooked an awful lot of shoulder over the years so I went with it first. My eldest is already talking about doing it with belly next time.

 

[Horners]

Sounds good - one of best things I did on the go anywhere last year was just thickly sliced pork tenderloin rubbed in the A & O char sui served with stir fried pak choi from garden ( which is very easy to grow from early spring) and egg fried rice. Kids would gave eaten it every night and actually a couple of tenderloin for a family of four is still quite cheap tea

 

[Wilfy]

I do this but use a pork fillet. Only takes 15 minutes to cook on the hottest your oven will go.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

What is the spice used in "1/4 tsp spice"?

 

[Alastair70]

Chinese 5-spice. Sorry.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

No problemos José

 

[Irishwizard]

Didn’t get any photos, sorry, but No1 son claims its the best thing we’ve cooked so far, so I thought I’d share the recipe.

1.5kg Pork shoulder served 5

Marinade
50g Caster Sugar, 2tsp salt, 1/4 tsp 5-spice, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 15 ml rice wine, 15 ml soy sauce, 15 ml hoisin sauce, 2 tsp golden syrup, 3 cloves mince garlic, 1/8 tsp red food colouring.

Save 2 tbsps of the marinade for cooking day and smear the rest over the pork.
I vacuum packed it for a sous vide, but this will work in a low oven too. Marinade in the fridge overnight.

Day 2, the plan was to sous vide for 8 hrs at 55C but I forgot to put it on so it got 3 hrs at 90C instead. Then it was transfered to a preheated oven dish at 180C for 30 minutes. The reserved marinade was mixed with 2tbs runny honey and 2tbs of cooking juices from the sous vide bag and the pork was basted repeatedly until crispy and charred on the outside.

Served up with No1’s signature veg fried rice.

I’m not sure if it’s actually the best thing we’ve cooked together, but it’s definitely top three.

Interesting, Ive just done a stir fry to use up some roast pork leftovers using virtually the same recipe as you, since I had all the ingredients from a chinese supermarket many, many many years past their sell by! Who cares - does this stuff go off! Anyway, made the marinade and cooked next day and it was superb, so much so, my Mrs said she would have it again. Glad I didn't chuck out that rice wine that was 8 years past its sellby!

 

[Hanglow]

That sounds great. Pork is my favourite meat to sous vide.

 

[Alastair70]

I do this but use a pork fillet. Only takes 15 minutes to cook on the hottest your oven will go.

I still can't decided if I prefer cheap cuts cooked for more than 24 hours, or choice cuts cooked for less than 24 minutes. I'm going to make the pursuit of the answer my life goal, and no.1 son is just the sidekick for the quest.
Well, at least until he goes back to Uni next week.

 

[Thatscold]

I fancy trying this. Do you remove the rind (the crackling) from the pork shoulder before you marinade it?

 

[Wilfy]

I still can't decided if I prefer cheap cuts cooked for more than 24 hours, or choice cuts cooked for less than 24 minutes. I'm going to make the pursuit of the answer my life goal, and no.1 son is just the sidekick for the quest.
Well, at least until he goes back to Uni next week.

Both have their place. There’s only me and the wife so a pork fillet is the perfect amount for a meal for us. 2/3 for me obviously.

 

[Alastair70]

I fancy trying this. Do you remove the rind (the crackling) from the pork shoulder before you marinade it?

My shoulder came rind off, I left the fat on. A longer slower sous vide would result in all the rendering away.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Making this today, and frankly having a mare. Got the sous vide set at 60 to speed it along a bit but my vac pack isnt actually vacced at all. For some reason my sealer has just packed in, so theres a fair bit of air in there.

Obviously its much less stressful to read this, but it wasnt a great mornings work.

Wel see how pork leg char sui in a poly bag works.....