Salted Egg Stuffed Char Siu (咸蛋黄酿叉烧)

Char Siu stuffed with salted egg, what's not to love?

Ok, so you know Char Siu barbecue pork. And you probably know about salted egg yolks. But. Even if you're the sort that's familiar with Cantonese cuisine, salted egg stuffed Char Siu might not be something that you've ever heard of. And it is a bit of a newer thing.

Food trends are a very real thing worldwide after all, and Guangdong as of late's had sort of this collective obsession with salted egg yolk. There's salted egg yolk milk tea, salted egg ice cream, salted egg deep fried French toast... and this dish, the stuffed Char Siu, fits right in with that larger craze.

But unlike something like salted egg milk tea, we do think this dish might have a bit of legs on its own. It's rich, delicious, can please a crowd, and is a bit of showstopper in its own right.

Salted Egg Stuffed Char Siu

• Pork Loin (里脊肉), ~1kg.

• Uncooked Salted Eggs (咸蛋) or Pre-cooked salted egg yolks (咸蛋黄), ~20.

• For the marinade:

  Char Siu Sauce (叉烧酱), 60g (3 tbsp).

  Salt, 5g (1 tsp).

  Sugar, 10g (2 tsp).

  Five spice powder, 1 tsp.

  Water, 30g (2 tbsp).

  Fenjiu (汾酒) or vodka, 30g (2.5 tbsp).

  Red yeast rice (红曲), 1 tsp, pounded -or- 1 drop red food color -or- skip this.

  Additional ~¼ cup of water to rinse the bowl.

• For the basting liquid:

  Char Siu Sauce (叉烧酱), ~3 tbsp.

  Water, ~1.5 tbsp.

  Maltose (麦芽糖) -or- Honey -or- Golden Syrup, ~3 tbsp.

• For the reduced sauce:

  The leftover marinade from above + 1 tsp sugar.

Process:

Select and trim your pork loin. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade (pounding the red yeast rice first, if using), then add your pork to your bowl and massage the marinade into the meat. Transfer the pork over to some boxes for storage. Pour the marinade into the boxes with the pork, rinse out the marinade bowl with that final quarter cup of water to get every last drop, and pour that in as well. Marinate for 48 hours.

(Depending on you box and how you pack it, if your marinade only comes partway up your pork, give it a flip halfway through marinating)

For the salted egg yolks, if you're working from a yolk-only pre-cooked sort of package, there's no need to prep - use as is. If you're working from uncooked salted eggs like us, first clean off the mud, then crack the eggs open and separate out the yolks.

To stuff the Char Siu, slice open a hole with some scissors, then widen it with your rolling pin/rod. Add in the salted egg yolks. Pin each side with six toothpicks - three vertical, three horizontal. Place on a foil-lined baking tray.

Mix together a basting liquid of three tablespoons Char Siu sauce, 1.5 tbsp water, and three tablespoons of Maltose (or honey, or golden syrup).

Bake for 1 hour at 200C, middle rack. After the first 20 minutes of baking, move the Char Siu up onto a rack. After the second twenty minutes of baking, flip the Char Siu and baste. After the third 20 minutes of baking, flip again and baste. At this point, you should be looking at an internal temperature of 75-78C. Swap your oven to the highest not-broiling temperature it can go (for us, 230C), and bake it at the top rack for 2-5 minutes, or until the top of the Char Siu is just beginning to char. Remove.

As the Char Siu bakes, whip together the reduced sauce: pour the marinade into a small pot, add in one teaspoon of sugar, and over a medium flame let it rapidly reduce by about half, or ~10 minutes.

Once the Char Siu is finished, let it cool down. Once it's cool to the touch, or ~1 hour, remove the toothpicks and wrap with aluminum foil. Place in the fridge until you're ready to eat (should be good for at least 3-4 days).

To reheat, place the foil-wrapped Char Siu in the oven for 15 minutes at 200C (if coming from room temp instead of straight from the fridge, this can be shortened to 10 minutes at 200C). Slice the Char Siu. Serve with the sauce as either a dip or drizzled around the side of the plate.