- 15. 2020
CHINESE ROAST PORK MADE WITH HOMEMADE HOISIN SAUCE
Naturally Gluten-Free
Makes about 2/3 cup marinade
Serves: 6
Every time Peter looks at the above photograph, he says ‘oh yeah, the meatloaf’! He is sort of right it does look like a meatloaf! Lol. I had cut the pork belly in 3” pieces and ended up with 4 squatty pieces. I should have cut the meat in long strips (3 to 4) the way they cut the pork in the Chinese restaurants.
That said, the last time I made Chinese roast pork I bought the pork at a Chinese Supermarket in Chinatown and there was no skin on the meat.
This time I purchased the pork belly at my local grocery store. It was in one of those pink Styrofoam trays. When I removed the meat from the tray, I discovered that there was skin on the bottom and decided I would have someone from the meat department cut off the skin. I tried to do it, it was difficult, and I was worried that I could cut my own skin.
So, I decided that I would remove the skin after cooking. But it was not necessary. After the meat was cooked, I discovered that the skin has become soft and silky and completely rendered of any fat. All the fat was rendered off the meat.
When you first look at the 2lbs of meat don’t be discouraged that there is a lot of meat. First, after cooking for more than 50 minutes the meat renders off fat and cooks down. Second, you can freeze what you don’t use right away to make pork fried rice, pork buns (we like the baked kind, you might prefer the steamed kind. once I have perfected, to my mind, the buns I will give you that recipe) or you can eat the meat sliced with steamed rice and steamed vegetable of your choice. I like to serve with snow peas or bok choy. And a bunch of other Chinese dishes.
Let's get started:
Measure the marinade ingredients into a 2-c glass measuring cup and whisk well to combine. Remove ¼ c and refrigerate until needed.
The marinade:
White sugar - 28 g
Kosher salt – 2 t
Chinese 5 spice powder – 1 t
White pepper – ground, ½ t
Sesame oil – 1 T
Hoisin sauce* – 1 ½ T
Molasses – 1 T
Red food coloring – 4 to 5 drops
Garlic – finely minced, 1 ½ T
The meat:
Pork belly – 2 lbs. cut into 3 to 4 long pieces
The glaze:
Hot water – 1 ½ T
Honey – 3 T
Reserved marinade – 2 T
Let's get cooking:
Rub the pieces of pork well with the marinade and place in a large zip top bag and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours, (mine ended up marinating for a little more than 24 hours). I turned the bag around every few hours and massaged the meat through the bag to make sure that the meat was marinating evenly.
When you are ready to roast the meat, remove the meat and the reserved marinade from the refrigerator and let sit on the counter until the oven is preheated to 500F with a rack placed on the upper 1/3 of the oven.
Prepare the sheet pan you plan to use by covering it with foil. (easy clean-up). Set a baking rack on the covered sheet pan and spray the rack with cook spray. Using a rack is important, it will keep the meat off the meat drippings and help you achieve an even roast.
Place the pieces of pork spread out on the rack and pour 1 to 1 ½ c very hot water into the sheet pan to prevent the drippings from burning.
Place the sheet pan in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, flip the meat over, turn the pan so the front is now to the back, add more boiling water and bake for 25 more minutes.
While the pork is roasting make the glaze by whisking the reserved marinade with the hot water and honey.
Remove the pan from the oven and brush the glaze on the meat, flip and brush the other side with glaze. Place the pan back in the oven after oven after adding more water if needed and bake for 10 more minutes.
The meat has roasted for around 50 minutes now. The meat will be cooked through and caramelized. If you want more caramelization and acquire a few charred sports, do this by broiling for 1 to 2 minutes.
Remove the meat from the oven and baste with the rest of the glaze. Tent with oil and let sit for 15 minutes on the counter. Move the meat to a carving board, pour the dripping left on the sheet pan into a fat separator and pour the dripping into a small bowl and the fat into a small jar. You can use the fat to toss with vegetables or roots that you plan to roast giving them a unique flavor.
Slice the meat, against the grain, and serve with rice and leafy green vegetable dribbled with dripping. This dish came out yummier than I expected!
Enjoy!
*HOMEMADE HOISIN SAUCE
Naturally Gluten and Lactose-Free
I usually purchase gluten-free hoisin sauce but has been unable to find it on the supermarket shelves. So, I decided to make it myself. It is easy to make, you can make a bunch and refrigerate to use anytime you want. There are many Chinese dishes that call for hoisin sauce.
I like to use it on eggs, steamed or broiled fish or just on rice. Infact, tonight I plan to make salmon fillets brushed with hoisin sauce, brown rice and steamed whole green bean with some lemon marinated onion on top for dinner tonight. Yum!
The recipe calls for sesame paste, no NOT, tahini. I could not find this on the shelves either but made my own by whirring 50 g of sesame seeds with 1 to 2 T of sesame oil. Of course, there was lot extra as I only needed 1 t for the hoisin sauce recipe. I poured the extra into a small jar and refrigerated it until I would need more to make hoisin sauce. I might have made a teaspoon by grinding the sesame seeds with the sesame oil in my mortar and pestle. Didn’t think of it till afterwards. Next time.
Let’s get started.
Measure everything into a small saucepan.
Brown sugar – 6T, either light or dark is ok.
Gluten-Free soy sauce – 2 T (I used tamari as that is what I had)
Rice vinegar – 4 t (I used seasoned rice vinegar as that I what I had)
Chinese 5 spice powder – 1 t
Sesame paste – 1 t (not tahini)
Cayenne pepper – ½ t (increase to 1 t if you don’t have sriracha sauce)
Sriracha sauce – ½ t
Let’s get cooking:
Boil water and pour into a glass jar with a screw top that you plan to store your hoisin sauce to sterilize the jar. After 10 minutes, pour out the hot water and leave the jar on its side and top facing down to dry out. Always use a clean dry spoon to scoop out what you need to keep your hoisin sauce from spoiling. this goes for any homemade sauce or ghee.
Bring the saucepan with all the sauce ingredients on medium high heat to a boil, then lower the heat to low and simmer until the sauce becomes thick, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool and pour into the prepared jar, label with name and date screw on the top tightly and store in refrigerator for 4 weeks or more. Never lasts that long in my house so I am not sure how long it will stay unspoiled.