Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) 自制猪肉干

Recipe inspired past times in addition to adapted from Miki Food Archives.

Making Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) 自制猪肉干 is a husband-wife weekend bonding projection inwards our home. I produce non eat much of this local delicacy. Few pocket-size pieces are fine....no to a greater extent than than that. I am a cancer survivor. This sort of indulgence has to live moderated. On the other hand, my hubby loves them!

What precisely is Bak Kwa?

"Bak Kwa, also known as rougan (肉干), is a dried savoury sweetmeat that traditionally takes the shape of sparse foursquare slices in addition to is unremarkably made from pork. Bak kwa and rougan, meaning “dried meat” in Hokkien and mandarin respectively, also shout to barbecued pork or pork jerky. Originating from China, bak kwa has piece of job a favourite local snack inwards Singapore, alongside its popularity peaking during Chinese New Year, every bit evidenced past times the long queues at the branches of famous Bak Kwa chains during the festive period."

Source : http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1746_2010-12-30.html

We had been spending hundreds of dollars buying Bak Kwa from famous chains for many years. Yes! We did crazy things similar queueing for hours just to purchase few kgs. We fifty-fifty drove to far destination of Singapore inwards promise to purchase direct from the nutrient factories. You know they are pop when the stores lead keep to restrain buying quotas for each customer. In Singapore, nosotros ofttimes purchase Bak Kwa for gifting to identify unit of measurement elders in addition to for problem concern associates earlier Chinese New Year's Day (CNY). That explains why everybody buys inwards larger volume. They are non cheap. H5N1 kg of Bak Kwa is unremarkably inwards a higher identify SGD$50 during the peak festive seasons. And the prices lead keep been increasing over the years.

As our parents age, nosotros were told non to purchase Bak Kwa for them this CNY. We gladly acceded to their requests every bit that would relieve us a expert amount of money. I did non forget that I had to satisfy my man's appetite for the pork jerky. It was delightful to know that he was groovy to embark on this Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) 自制猪肉干 journey together.

There are many versions of Bak Kwa recipes available on the internet. It took us ii days, four rounds of lawsuit & fault earlier nosotros derived alongside our favourite formulae. As much every bit nosotros enjoyed the making process, the hours of bonding through troubleshooting in addition to the yummy end products, Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) 自制猪肉干surely would non live something that nosotros would brand often. Once or twice a year....maybe?

Seasonings/Ingredients for Marinating :

2 kg minced fresh pork (Need to lead keep most 10% fat, cannot yield expert consequence if pork is every bit good lean. We tried using frozen minced pork too, the consequence was non every bit expert every bit the meat were withal every bit good moist for grill afterwards defrosting unless nosotros drain the pork relatively dry out alongside a drainer.)
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp low-cal soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp brownish saccharide (Bak kwa color would live darker if yous role brownish sugar. Use white saccharide if yous prefer a lighter colour)
1/2 tsp grounded white pepper
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
5 tbsp love (blend alongside to a greater extent than or less other v tbsp water)

Ingredients for Grilling :

2 tbsp love (blend alongside 1/3 loving cup water)

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)

Method :

Mix all marinating seasonings inwards a bowl. Use chopsticks to blend them well. Ensure saccharide is non clumpy.
Add mixture to minced pork. Use chopsticks or mitt to stir till all seasonings blend evenly in addition to pork becomes sticky. We used our hands.
Cover bowl alongside cling wrap.
Chill inwards fridge for iii to four hours.
When time's up, preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius or 320 degrees fahrenheit (Upper & lower heat. Do non role fan mode. We had 1 side totally burnt when nosotros tried on fan mode).
Prep your baking trays alongside 1 layer of aluminium foil in addition to top alongside 1 canvass of baking paper. My baking newspaper was sticking madly to the baking tray when I did it without the aluminium foil. Or yous may just piece of job without whatsoever baking newspaper or foil.
Remove bowl from chiller, spread marinated minced pork thinly in addition to evenly onto rectangular baking trays. We managed to yield iii trays alongside the ii kg pork.
Cover a layer of cling wind over the minced pork when done. Use a roller pivot to lightly whorl over to ensure the minced meat's all flat, fifty-fifty in addition to stays together.
Remove cling wind when yous are satisfied alongside the result.
Send 1 tray into middle rack of the oven. Bake for xx minutes.
For the remaining tray(s), recollect to encompass alongside cling wind in addition to chill earlier yous post them into the oven. Do non larn out them inwards the opened upwards to await for oven's availability.
Meanwhile, blend ii tbsp love inwards 1/3 loving cup water. Standby a brush too.
Remove tray from oven afterwards xx minutes.
Adjust oven rut to 220 degrees celsius or 428 degrees fahrenheit.
By now, the pork would lead keep shrunk at to the lowest degree 20% to 30% inwards size.
Use a tong to agree in addition to a couplet of pair of scissors to cutting the pork into your desired piece size.
Brush love mixture onto surface of the pork.
Use tong to flip piece past times piece inwards the tray.
Brush love mixture on this side of the pork slices too.
Send tray dorsum to oven. This time, 1 rack higher, instead of the middle rack.
Bake for v minutes.
Remove tray from oven again.
If yous are happy alongside what yous see, yous may post the tray of bak kwa for cooling. Otherwise, repeat Step 17 to 20. Bake for ii minutes in addition to assess again. Repeat processes until yous are happy alongside the destination product.
Do the same alongside other trays.
Ensure bak kwa slices are aired adequately in addition to fully cooled downward alongside no wet earlier storing inwards air tight containers. If not, the bak kwa would plough mouldy pretty fast.

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All inwards all, nosotros were happy alongside our Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) 自制猪肉干. Our bakes lasted us throughout the CNY. We did non purchase whatsoever Bak Kwa from the chain stores for the offset time. Besides, my hubby in addition to I spent ii days of character fourth dimension together. No doubt, it could live rather tiring alongside all the anticipations in addition to anxieties inwards the bak kwa making process!