Char siu pork (叉烧肉).

A Cantonese favorite, char siu is a style of cooking where meat is roasted on a spit.  It is flavored with a combination of five spice powder, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey or maltose, and is often colored red with food coloring for a more appealing look.

Char siu is most commonly made with pork.  A variety of cuts can be used, but long, thin strips no more than 2-3 inches thick work best for the flavor to penetrate and for a faster, hotter roast.  The sweet and savory flavor lends itself to fattier cuts like pork shoulder, but for a healthier option, a leaner cut like pork tenderloin works fine.

Maltose syrup is used in Cantonese roasts for glazing and flavoring.  It is less sweet than sugar or corn syrup and has an almost solid consistency at room temperature that makes it difficult to work with, but a few seconds in the microwave makes it flow like honey.  On that note, it is okay to substitute honey for maltose in these recipes.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pork tenderloin or pork shoulder in long strip no wider than 3 inches diameter
• ¼ cup maltose syrup or honey

For the marinade:

• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons five spice powder
• (Optional) 1 teaspoon red food coloring

Instructions

(Note: Instead of roasting in the oven as this recipe instructs, char siu pork can be grilled for more flavor.  Go hot and fast to an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, making sure to baste frequently as detailed below.  Avoid excessive direct heat and flareups so that the sugars in the glaze don’t burn before the meat cooks.)

1. Combine ingredients for the marinade in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves into the mixture.  Marinade the pork tenderloin in the mixture for at least 12 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place pork on roasting rack.
3. Combine marinade with maltose or honey and heat in saucepan until dissolved to make glazing liquid.
4. Roast pork on rack at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees Fahrenheit.  During roasting process, take pork out and glaze with glazing liquid on all sides at least 3 times.
5. Let pork cool, then cut into slices.  Pork can be served with rice and vegetables, over noodles, or stuffed in buns.

Tea eggs (茶叶蛋).

Marinated hard boiled eggs are a common snack throughout China.  While traditionally hard boiled, there is no reason these eggs can’t be made soft-boiled or onsen-style, as long as the egg whites are cooked enough to hold shape for peeling.

Chinese cooking frequently makes use of two different kinds of soy sauce, and this recipe is one such example.  The first is light or young soy sauce, which is the kind of soy sauce you’ll find everywhere in the US (not to be confused with soy sauce labeled as “light” in the US, which generally refers to a low sodium version of light soy sauce).  The second is dark or aged soy sauce, which has been aged longer and tends to be thicker, darker, less salty, and sometimes sweeter with the addition of sugar or molasses.  Dark soy sauce is used in Chinese cuisine to add color and depth of flavor to dishes that use light soy sauce.  Finally, sugar is commonly used in recipes primarily flavored by soy sauce to offset some of the sourness that can result from cooking soy sauce.

In a pinch, the dry spices in this recipe can be replaced with five spice powder for a similar flavor.  Don’t leave out the tea though!

Ingredients

• 6 eggs

For the marinade:

• ½ cup light soy sauce
• ¼ cup tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 piece of cinnamon bark
• 2 pieces of star anise
• 1 teaspoon red Sichuan peppercorn
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 black tea bags or 2 tablespoons of black tea leaves
• 3 cups water

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients for the marinade in a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer for another 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags if using bags, then let marinade cool.
2. Boil eggs in water to desired doneness, taking care not to crack eggs as you drop them in the pot.  If you’re doing soft-boiled eggs, I would recommend at least 6 minutes for a more set egg that is easier to peel.  Remove eggs, rinse and let sit in cold water.
3. Once eggs are cool, crack eggs thoroughly to allow marinade to penetrate.  Alternatively, for a quicker marinade, crack and peel eggs completely.  Place eggs in container or quart sized bag and pour marinade in to cover eggs completely.  Refrigerate and let marinade for 12 hours if completely peeled, or 24 hours if cracked but not peeled.  Eggs can be left in marinade for a few days if a more flavorful egg is desired.  If not peeled previously, peel eggs and serve.

Lamb skewers (羊肉串).

Lamb skewers (羊肉串)

Lamb skewers are a byproduct of the Chinese Islamic tradition in the western Xinjiang region and have gained popularity in the northeast, particularly in Beijing.  These skewers of lamb are traditionally spiced with plenty of cumin and crushed red pepper, but some Sichuan peppercorn gives them a little kick.

Traditionally, small pieces of lamb with a good mix of lean meat and fat are used.  Branched chain fatty acids in lamb fat give lamb its distinct flavor,[1] and the incorporation of fat into the skewers helps them stand up to the strong spices used in the rub.  It also provides a mix of textures that is appealing to many in Eastern cuisine.  I prefer breaking down lamb shoulder steak, but if you are making a larger batch, you can break down a leg of lamb for leaner meat.  For a healthier alternative, you can use only lean pieces of lamb, but I would recommend adding some oil to the marinade to prevent the spices from burning during grilling.

For the spice mix, I have provided a starting point that has some heat.  For less heat, you can increase the amount of cumin used – in fact, it is hard to go overboard with cumin in this recipe.  Crushing the spices with a mortar and pestle avoids turning the mixture into a paste when wet and allows the meat to brown without burning the spices; however cumin powder can be used in a pinch.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lamb meat broken down into bite size pieces not larger than ½ inch thick on at least one side
• Salt to taste
• Splash of cooking wine (traditionally a cooking wine like Shaoxing wine, but any cooking wine like sherry or vermouth would suffice)
• Skewers
• (Optional) Cumin powder for dusting meat as it cooks

For the spice mix:

• 1 tablespoon red Sichuan peppercorn
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 3 tablespoons whole cumin seeds

Instructions

1. If you’re using wooden skewers, soak them in water to prevent burning on the grill.
2. Grind the Sichuan peppercorn and cumin seeds separately in a mortar and pestle until a medium crushed consistency is achieved.  Combine together with crushed red pepper to create a spice mix.
3. Salt the lamb to taste in a container.  Pour in the majority of your spice mix, reserve some for dusting on the grill.  Add a splash of cooking wine and mix well.  Form lamb into skewers.  Let marinade for at least 10 minutes.
4. Prepare the grill.  If you’re using a gas grill, heat the grill at medium high.  If you’re using charcoal, make sure you have adequate space directly over the coals.
5. Grill lamb skewers for about 5-8 minutes depending on thickness of meat, taking care to avoid excessive flare-ups and burning by moving skewers to areas of lower heat if necessary.  Turn and dust skewers frequently with reserved spice mix and/or optional extra cumin powder as you grill them.
6. Serve with extra cumin powder for dipping if desired.

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[1] See Watkins PJ, Kearney G, Rose G, et al. Effect of branched-chain fatty acids, 3-methylindole and 4-methylphenol on consumer sensory scores of grilled lamb meat. Meat Sci. 2014;96(2):1088-1094.