As cny is just around the corner and we are still stuck in MCO, time to try making homemade pork jerky aka Bak Kwa.
Bak kwa, which means “dried meat” in the Hokkien dialect, is synonymous with Lunar New Year, and it is almost a crime not to have this moreish snack in your home all through the festive season.
Over the years, people pay high prices to get their hands on this salty sweet dried meat. Homemade were definitely so much more cheaper and healthier, knowing what's goes inside.
My first attempt, I would say, the taste and texture is very closed to the store bought ones. Of course this homemade version where they are grilled in the oven couldn't achieve those smoky-barbeque-over-charcoal flavor.
Best to eat it on it's own. Or sandwich them with bread or buns.
Following recipe from
Ingredients :
250g Fresh Minced Meat (use minced meat with some fat, do not use lean meat)
Seasoning:
50g Sugar (I reduced to 45g)
7g Soy Sauce
10g Oyster Sauce
1/3 tsp Salt
23g Honey
1 tsp Fish Sauce
1 tsp Cooking Wine (shaoxing)
A dash of White Pepper
Step by Step:
1. Mix together all seasoning together in a bowl.
2. Add in minced meat. Using a pair of chopsticks, stir till well combined following in one direction until the mixture turns sticky and gluey.
3. Keep in the fridge covered and let it sit and marinate for at least 2 hours.
4. Remove from the fridge. Preheat oven 160C (upper & lower heat). Wearing a disposable gloves, carefully spread the minced meat evenly over a baking tray line with non-stick baking paper.
* Recommended tray size 32cm x 22cm. (I'm using tray size 37cm x 33cm)
5. Bake in a preheated oven 160C for 20 minutes, middle rack.
6. Remove the baking tray from the oven. Adjust oven temperature to MAX/ 240C, grill mode. Mean while, slice/cut the pork jerky with a knife or scissors.
7. Once the oven is preheated, return the baking tray to the oven, rack 4 (one rack above the middle rack), grill for 3 minutes. Change to a clean baking tray if necessary. Mine were all sticky and burnt at the base, getting abit messy, so I transferred to another tray.
8. Carefully pull out the baking tray from the oven, use a tong to flip over the pork jerky. Continue to grill for 2 minutes.
9. Lower the temperature to 200C, flip over the pork jerky once again and grill for 1 minute.
Note : For Step 7-9, baking time may varies depending on individual oven specifications. Make sure to stand in front of the oven, make sure not to burn the pork jerky. :)
Happy Baking.
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