Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky)

Bak Kwa also referred to Chinese pork jerky is one of my favorite snacks. It has a sweet and combined flavor and loved by all of my family members. I love to make this for children in school days as snack.

This pork jerk is very popular on journey as a travel gift, usually with a high prices. Making it at home is super easy. Some of the store bought pork jerk is colored by a natural red ingredients, red yeast rice (红曲米), which is widely used in Chinese cuisine for coloring such as Char Siu. However it is completely fine to skip the coloring and using honey brushing to create a lovely and appealing color.

Tips about how to make perfect Bak Kwa or Chinese pork jerk at home

1. Choose the right pork cut. Recommend choosing lean meat with 5% to 10% fat. If only lean is used, the bak kwa will be too dry however if too much fat used, there will be too much oil and fatty after cooled.
2. Fish sauce(Tiparos Thai Fish Sauce 23 Oz. X 2 Blt.) is a must for this recipe.
3. Marinating time must be guaranteed for a profound and uniform flavor.
4. Tips about how to make the pork sheet large and thin: roll with plastic wrapper covered so the pork won’t attach to the rolling pin. Remove the extra pork on the edges and then place in the center of the sheet, repeat the process of rolling to make it as even as possibly.

Steps

Cut the pork into large pieces and then place in a food blender. Add all of the marinating ingredients. Pause and blend for 20 seconds until the pork is finely minced and becomes sticky. If the pork is not sticky enough, stir the content in one directly for a while and it will become quite sticky. Cover with lid and set in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 170 degree C. Then place one silver paper around the ovenware and then lay the minced pork on. Cover with plastic wrap (to avoid sticky) and then roll the minced pork into a thin meat piece.

Tips about how to make the pork sheet large and thin: roll with plastic wrapper covered so the pork won’t attach to the rolling pin. Remove the extra pork on the edges and then place in the center of the sheet, repeat the process of rolling to make it as even as possibly.

Place in the middle rack of the oven and heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Then there will be water and oil mixture in the bottom of the pan. Take it out and pour the liquid.

Brush honey on surface. Heat for another 10 minutes.

Transfer out and turn over the pork piece. This should be quite easy at this stage because the pork jerk is almost done and hardened. Brush honey on the other side and garnish some toasted sesame seeds if using. Continue heating for another 5 to 8 minutes until the pork jerk is well colored.

Cool down slightly and cut into small pieces.