Recipe: Pork BBQ Barbecue Chinese Style

Pork BBQ Barbecue Chinese Style

Recipe by: Bill Farran
Preparation Time: 1:00

Ingredients

7 lb Boston Butt, Pork—Boned and skinned
1 cup hoisin sauce
1 cup sherry
1 cup soy sauce, light
1/2 tsp 5 fragrance spice—optional
1 tbl food coloring Tomato Red—optional

Preparation

Cut the pork butt into strips 5" long and 1-1/2" thick.

Put the pork strips into a bowl of hot water. Let the hot water from the tap run (undiluted by cold) slowly over the meat for 20 minutes. The meat should be covered by the water which will stay hot by replenishment. (nb: this sounds goofy to me but Bill Farran assures me that this makes the meat extra tender. Try it. Bill is a former student of mine and this is his best shot)

Mix the 3 wet ingredients. Add the optionals. (5 fragrance spice = star anise, Szechuan Peppercorns, cinnamon, fennel and cloves. Stir fry and grind fine. Optional only if you can't get it. It comes prepared, too.)

Marinate the pork strips overnight.

Make a wire S hook for each piece of pork. (I use curtain hangers) Put the bottom hook of the S in each piece of pork. The top of the S is going to hang from the wire rack in your oven. Take all the wire racks out of your oven now. Check the S hooks to see if they work. Find a pan that will fit the bottom of your oven. This is going to have water in it to catch the drips and keep oven floor clean. Don't put water in it now.

Preheat oven 500F 10 minutes. Get everything ready, because once you open the oven, you must work fast, so as not to loose heat.

Open oven
Slide in rack as high as it goes.
Hang strips. Hurry. (a cold practice run helps)
Slide pan in bottom of oven. Add 1 inch of water.
Close oven. I hope you didn't take forever.
Set oven at 350 F.

Roast for 40-50 Minutes. The edges of the meat might have a slight burn on them. This is good. Test for doneness by slicing a piece. No Red, a little pink ok. While cooking add a little water to pan juices if they threaten to dry up on you. Not too much.

Reduce pan juices and mix 1 cup pan juice with 1 cup honey (yes you can use Karo, but honey is better tasting.) Brush meat well.

Avoid refrigerating if at all possible, as fat gets hard.

This is also good without the sweet glaze, sliced on rice with pan juices over it. Try it on toasted garlic bread.

Suggested Wine: Maou Tai, Wu Liang Yeh, Beer