Friday, February 16, 2018

Bak kwa (take 2)

I attempted to make BW couple of years ago but it just didn't taste right. Tried this time but with 1kg of minced pork. Not quite there but it will do.

Adapted from:
http://www.malaysianchinesekitchen.com/bak-kwa-chinese-pork-jerky/ (ingredients)
http://mykitchen101en.com/homemade-bak-kwa-chinese-pork-jerky/ (method)

Ingredients
1 kg of minced pork (makes about 32 big 'regular' bak kwa rectangles, which I further cut into 4)
⅔ cup sugar + 1 tbsp
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
½ tsp five spice powder

Method
1) Mix the ingredients. Using your hand or a stiff cooking implement (e.g. wooden spatula), mix well in 1 direction until it comes together and is slightly gluey and paler in colour.
2) Leave to marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hrs or overnight.
3) Take out a baking sheet or sheet pan (mine was 17" by 12".) Line with foil followed by parchment.
4) Place the meat and using a offset spatula, distribute it. Cover the top with cling film and using a rolling pin, press as flat as possible, at least 3mm thin or thinner if you can. My sheet pan was not large enough so I might need to transfer say 200g to another third sheet.
5) Bake at 120 deg C for 15 minutes. It would have shrunk and oozed oil. Slice up and flip over. Increase the temp to 220 deg C and bake on one side for 8 minutes before flipping and repeating.
6) Prior to serving, grill it for best effect.

Recipe feedback
Compared to the previous recipe, this one tastes ok but there's a strong piggy smell. It really helps to microwave 30s on each side before serving which makes it seem more like the caramelised taste of bak kwa and it has to be consumed hot. Texture however seems wrong, as the minced meat texture is quite obvious (lumpy) but it does make the bak kwa more tender. On balance, I think next time I'll use this recipe but the old method of baking at 150 deg C for 1 hour which dries it out better instead of having 2 sets of temperatures.

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