ASADO (chinese barbequed roast pork)

One of the basics in Chinese food is barbequed pork. I don't think I have ever met anyone who dislikes this (well, except of course vegetarians and Muslims). It's a staple of all dimsum houses here and abroad. If you have visited a dimsum house, its the meat hanging on the window with all the roast ducks and crispy pork.

ASADO (what we call it here), is very versatile. The leftovers can be stir fried (yangchow style) with left over rice, a bit of eggs and some peas. It is also the filling for barbequed pork buns.

During celebrations (like chinese new year, all souls day or a holiday where we need to offer food to our ancestors-- as with chinese customs), this is one of the dishes you can order/buy and put on the menu very quickly.

In my never ending quest to cook all the foods my family likes ( this includes the barbequed pork bun)- I enrolled in some classes at HENY SISON. It is in the siopao and mami workshop where I got this recipe. So folks, you save 2000 pesos ($48) just by reading this blog!

I've made this recipe a few times and the my hubby says it tastes like the ones in the restaurants. I still have to make it for my in laws to judge though. (hahahaha).

ASADO:

1 kg (2 lbs) pork shoulder (kasim)
1 cup chinese wine
2 cups sugar

marinade (overnight)

1/2 cup gin
1/8 light soy sauce
1/2 cup yellow beans ( drained and washed 2x)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup dark soy sauce
1 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
orange food color- optional

1. Cut the pork lengthwise ( if its rounded, cut somewhere in the middle and try to make it like a roll). I try not to be too strict about this because this is only good for presentation (cutting lengthwise). I have tried doing this recipe with chunks of pork shoulder (adobo cut) and then cut it later to strips.

-- the orange food color is for the meat to have the golden brown color when its done (like what you usually see in restaurants)

2. marinate the meat with the chinese wine and sugar for 10 minutes.

3. place ingredients for marinade into blender and puree. add this to the asado and marinate overnight.

4. After marinating, you can opt to cook this two ways. you can pan fry it with a little oil (like what I did with the chunks) or grill it in the oven for 30-40 minutes. ( what I did for the this version). You can use a stove top grill if you like too, or your turbo broiler. Reserve the marinating liquid. You heat the liquid and it would be serve as the sauce for the pork. (if you want a thinner sauce, you can add 1/2 cup of water when you heat it up)

after its done, slice it into this....

on the cutting board

with the sauce poured over

Hope you try making these and we would love to get feedback if you do try one of our recipes!

PS: yellow beans is different from black beans (obviously) but if you can't find yellow beans, you can substitute black beans. This and hoisin sauce can be bought at your local chinese deli (or if abroad, asian food store)