Chinese Style Pork Jerky

Chiese Style Pork Jerky.

Hello everyone!

I have to say, this Chinese style pork jerky is one of my favourite items to munch on. It's savoury, sweet, chewy, soft, and oh so good!

I never realized how easy it was to make, until I started doing some research on it, found some recipes and did some slight modifications. Tested it and BAM, all of it was gone! Kids loved it, the hubs loved it - it was a done deal for a second batch!

Chinese Style Pork Jerky

2 pounds of regular ground pork (pork needs to have at least 20% fat for it to be juicy and soft)
2/3 packed brown sugar
1 tsp Five spice powder
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp water
sea salt
additional ground pepper

How?

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (add pork last).  Mix for at least 5 minutes in a circular motion using your hands, so that the pork will start becoming sticky.  The more you mix it, the more it will stick to itself.

Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Using a baking pan or a jelly pan, cover it with parchment paper.  Place 1/4 of the pork mixture on the parchment paper, then place a piece of plastic wrap over it. Using a rolling pin, roll the pork to a flat sheet, approximately 4-5 mm thick.  Remove plastic wrap. Continue with the remainder of the pork.

Place flattened pork sheets in the oven for 15 minutes - you will notice that it will cook, look kinda greyish and not so pretty.  Drain out excess liquids that come from the pork by tilting pan to the side and removing the liquids.  Flip over and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, cut into 6 large squares.

Preheat barbecue.  Mix together 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp water in a bowl.
Place jerky squares on the bbq, and brush lavishly with honey water mixture.  Grill on medium heat until slightly charred.  Continue brushing honey water on the jerky until desired level of "charred".

Cool on a metal rack, sprinkle with some finely grated sea salt and enjoy.

• 1kg fatty Meat Mince - either Chicken, Beef or Pork (Fattier mince makes more tender, juicy bak kwa)
• 120g Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 3 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Rice Wine (Shao Tsing / Chinese rice wine)
• 3 tablespoon Honey
• 15ml Vegetable Oil
• 1 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
• A few drops of Sesame Oil
• Red food colouring - optional (I did not use)

Braised Pork Belly

Ingredients:

o    1 1/2 lb. pork belly meat cut in to two large 2 inch by 4 inch piece

o    3 tablespoons vegetable oil

o    2 tablespoons sugar

o    3 cloves of garlic peeled

o    3 whole star anise

o    1 teaspoon cinnamon

o    1 teaspoon five spice powder

o    1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

o    2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (老抽)

o    1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (紹興酒)

o    1 1/2 cups chicken stock

o    2 teaspoon honey

o    1 teaspoon sugar to taste

o    Cooked lettuce, drained.

Directions

o    Melt the sugar and the vegetable oil in a medium pot over medium high heat. Continue heating until the sugar is slightly brown. About 3 - 5 minutes. Sear the pork in the pot and brown it with the caramelized sugar, turning to ensure that all sides are browned and crusty. About 8 minutes.

o    Put the garlic, star anise, cinnamon, five spice powder, black pepper, dark soy sauce, rice wine and clear stock into the pot. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat. Cook for about 2 hours or until meat is tender. Turn the meat every 10 - 15 minutes to make sure the bottom of the pot does not get burnt.

o    Once the meat is tender, remove it from the sauce. Remove the cover and turn the heat to medium high. Add in the hone and sugar to taste, cook until the sauce reduces to a smooth consistency and becomes thick.

o   Carefully cut the pork with a sharp knife.  Lay over some drained cooked lettuce.  Cover with the sauce.

o   This dish is better if left overnight in the fridge and reheated the next day, as the flavour really comes out.

o   Garnish with chopped spring onions and sesame seed before serving.

Source: modified recipe from redcook.net

Pickled peppers for a hot summer.

Summer is quickly coming to an end as the Canadian National Exhibition is underway, and school will start in approximately 10 days.  I recall being a student and always feeling mediocre about this time of the year.  The only difference this time around will be my eldest son will be attending Montessori for the first time ever - I'm nervous for him and for myself.

Since summer is quickly coming to an end, we shall welcome fall in a few weeks!  What else but to prepare some pickled peppers for that last few BBQ meals, and to preserve them for the winter.  These peppers will last a long time in the refrigerator, and are quite the delicate addition to any meal you please.

I have used the recipe from a book my husband purchased on his trip to Louisiana.  Who would've thought that pickled peppers were so popular among the fried chicken, southern biscuits, and sweetened ice tea?

These jalapeño peppers are great with anything and are super easy to make. They go well with sandwiches, specialty dishes, with steak, or with your BBQ meal.  The scotch bonnet peppers are great with noodles soups, fried rice, etc.  The idea was to recreate the peppers you find at your local Vietnamese restaurant. Enjoy!

Japanese Noodles in Japanese Soup Stock with Soy Sauce.

Smell the fresh spring air!

It's been almost six month since the arrival of my second baby boy, and it's time to get back on the ball, and write about my adventures in cooking!

The garden is getting primed and prepped for some new flowers and I'm excited to start my herb garden!  Nothing is as nice as having fresh herbs for your dishes, cut minutes before they are to be used!

Clockwise starting from top left: Thai Basil seeds sprouting inside a glass jar; basil leaves atop my almost bare basil plant; backyard patio garden with various herbs.

Spring always inspire me to eat healthier and lighter meals. It must be the fresh colourful veggies and fruits that I know are to come over the next few months.

I have always wanted to learn to make Japanese ramen soup base on my own.  How can such a light clear broth carry so much flavour?  With the help of my Iron Chef Morimoto cookbook, I was able to use some of his techniques and recipes, and fuse it with my own to create a flavourful and easy Japanese noodles with a Bonito and Kelp based soy sauce soup.  This soup is very light, has very little fish flavours, and has wonderful Umami.

You'll find most of the ingredients at a chinese supermarket, or one that would stock Japanese items, such as Bonito flakes and kelp.

Left to Right: Bonito Flakes; Morimoto - The New Art of Japanese Cooking cookbook; Dried Kelp.

Happy Early Birthday Kasey!

Spent two hours making Angry Bird cupcake toppers.

Cupcakes are Coconut cupcakes with a Maple frosting! YUM!

Preview: My sister's wedding cake... and Yummy Spicy and Sweet BBQ Pork Spareribs!

Congratulations to my sister and her new husband on getting married last weekend!!!  I spent a good day making her wedding cake and cupcake ensemble.  Her wedding cake is a Lemon cake with lemon fillings, covered with a lemon frosting and fondant. The cupcakes, were of two varieties: lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting, and Chocolate coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream frosting. The Main cake was hand decorated and painted as you can see in the picture below into the wee hours of the night:

Photograph courtesy of Ian Cheung

The final product will be displayed once I get a decent picture of it!

In the meantime, I made a yummy Spicy and Sweet BBQ Pork ribs yesterday at a friend's place.  You need not marinade the ribs for long as they were only marinated 2 hours before they were actually grilled! Of course, adjust the Chili powder to your spiciness level!

Please ignore the poor picture quality, as this was taken with my phone as well.

Spicy and Sweet BBQ Pork Spareribs:

Ingredients:

4 lbs     Pork Spareribs
1 cup    Brown sugar
2 tbsp   Chili powder
2 tsp     Salt
2 tsp     Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp  Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp  Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp  White pepper, grounded


Directions:
1. Clean ribs and pat them dry using paper towel. Remove thin membrane on the underside of pork ribs.
2. Mix together sugar and all spices in a bowl.
3. Rub in spices mixture onto ribs. Refrigerate, and marinate for 1 or more hours. The ribs will have liquids coming out of them, so be sure to use a bowl with sides to catch the drippings.
4. Slowly grill ribs over low heat until meat have shrunken from bones, approximately 25-30 minutes. Be careful of the heat as there is a high sugar content in the rub, high heat may burn the ribs without thoroughly cooking the ribs.  Baste with liquids collected during marinating state.

Cake toppers ready to roll!!!

My customized, hand made, hand painted (with tooth picks and a small brush) edible fondant cake toppers for my sister's wedding!

Please excuse the poor picture quality... I didn't have a decent camera on me, and this was from my phone!

Representing the Vancouver Canucks and the Montreal Canadiens!