Tag: East Asian
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
I recently bought some nice pork tenderloins from my friends at Wildfork Foods and wanted to turn one of them into char siu. Then I thought, why not smoke it?! It usually my answer to all of life’s problems. Smoke it. Smoking pork tenderloin is a lot different then smoking other cuts of pork. Because the are very lean and not large, there is the risk of them being over cooked. The key is to preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Get your wood chips smoking for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin and drop the heat to 185 degrees. This will allow a longer smoking time to absorb smoke without drying out. After the first hour, turn the heat back up to 250 degrees. Apply a layer of glaze every 15 minutes for the next 30 minutes. A 24oz pork tenderloin will take 90 minutes in total. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 large pork tenderloin
- 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 red bean curd cubes plus 1 tbsp of juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3/4 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3/4 tsp sesame oil
Glaze
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp marinade liquid
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory
- 1/2 cherry wood
Instructions
- Mix the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork tenderloin in a storage bag for 3 days.
- Let the pork tenderloin rest on a rack overnight before smoking. Save the marinade.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Add in your wood chips. Let smoke for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin. Decrease the temp to 185 degrees. Smoke for 1 hour.
- While the tenderloin is smoking, heat up the honey and reserved marinade in a small saucepan until the honey has dissolved.
- Brush the tenderloin with the glaze. Increase the temp to 250. Smoke for 15 minutes. Apply another layer of glaze and smoke for 15 more minutes.
- Let the tenderloin rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Pork and Potatoes
Pork and Potatoes
One of my favorite Chinese takeout restaurants, Bing’s, closed over 25 years ago. They were known for giant egg rolls, giant egg foo yung, plus standard Cantonese dishes that you’ll find on most menus prepared significantly better than other Chinese restaurants. But my favorite thing on the menu was their pork and potatoes. I’ve had it from many other restaurants, and it’s all been garbage in comparison to Bing’s. So what made Bing’s so much better? A couple things. While most potatoes used in this dish are cubed, Bing’s sliced them thinly on a mandolin. It creates a wider surface area when frying the potatoes, allowing them to get crispier than cubed. Most places just use oyster sauce. Bing’s added both light and dark soy sauces to enhance the flavor and give it a darker color. Also, their char siu was second to none.
Equipment
- mandolin
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb potatoes peeled
- 1/4 red onion sliced
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup char siu roast pork diced
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- white pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
Instructions
- Slice the potatoes on a mandolin about 1/4” thick. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Pat dry.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Fry the potatoes in a single layer in 2 batches.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side until lightly crispy. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions and pork. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add the potatoes back into the pan.
- Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Make sure that all of the potatoes are coated.
- Pour in the water. Simmer for 5 minutes until all of the liquid has evaporated.
- Season with white pepper.
Watercress and Pork Rib Soup
Watercress and Pork Rib Soup
Watercress and pork rib soup is a classic Cantonese soup, served as a 1st course and sometimes as a main. Watercress has a lot of health benefits such as lowering risks of cancer, supporting heart and bone health, regulating blood pressure, and is full of vitamin A, B, beta carotene, calcium, and potassium. It is also considered an invasive species in the U.S., so eating watercress is also helping the environment.Besides the health benefits, this soup has so much flavor to it you’d think there was a ton of ingredients to make it. It actually has just 7 ingredients. The total cost to make a large pot of this soup cost $7. I’d pay more than that for a single bowl.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork riblets cut in between the bones
- 5 slices ginger
- 8 cups water
- 2 bunches watercress washed; big stems removed
- 2 tsp sea salt
- white pepper to taste
- soy sauce
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in the riblets. Once the water is back to a boil, simmer the ribs for 2 minutes. Drain the ribs and wash under cold water.
- Place the ribs in a clean pot with 8 cups of water and the slices of ginger. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 90 minutes.
- Stir in the salt. Cover and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
- Stir in the watercress. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
