Baking For Cowboys: Bak Kwa (Homemade Chinese Honey Pork Jerky) 烤肉干

Bak Kwa (in Hokkien dialect) or Rougan (in Mandarin) 烤肉干 is a salty and sweet dried meat product similar to jerky, a popular and must have treat during Chinese New Year. It also make an ideal gift when you pay a visit to friends and relatives's house during the festival.

Bak Kwa was originated from the Southern of China. Bak Kwa is a food preservation technique developed at a time when there were no refrigerators. The marinated meat was air-dried and smoked. When the Chinese migrated to Malaysia and Singapore, this food preservation technique was transmitted as well.

Nowadays Bak Kwa bought from the store is usually grilled over charcoal. As we are making this at home, we will use oven instead unless you would like to grill them.

The ingredients used are really cheap (just minced meat and seasonings) and amazing how easy to make this at home. Bak Kwa is getting more expensive, so it is much cheaper to make your own at home. I must say that the homemade Bak Kwa might not be as tasty as the store bought but at least you know that they are free from any preservative and MSG or any unknown ingredients :(

Ingredients:

450g Mince meat with some fat (fattier meat make more tender and juicier bak kwa)
1 1/2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp Dark soy sauce
2 tsp Fish sauce
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
3 Tbsp Honey
50g Sugar
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder
Pepper. to taste

You will also need baking sheet, parchment paper and cling wrap.

Method:

In a bowl, mix all the seasoning ingredients until the sugar dissolves.

In a big bowl, season the minced meat with pepper, to taste.

Add in the seasoning liquid.

Use a chopsticks and stir the meat in one direction until becomes gluey (to prevent the meat to break out during baking)

Cover with cling wrap and marinade for at least 2 hours in the fridge (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 150C or 300F.

Divide the marinated minced meat into 2 equal portions and spoon them on to 2 separate parchment paper.

Use the back of a big spoon to spread the minced meat slightly.

Then cover the meat with cling film and roll it out thinly (2mm-5mm) and evenly with a rolling pin.

Note: You may also use the back of a spoon or your fingers to spread the meat.

Baking Method 1:

Transfer the meat to a baking tray/sheet.

Note: I put my first batch of meat on the back of the tray but found it difficult to take it out from the oven as there was some liquid/sauce from the marinade appear around the meat after the first half of the baking. So, with the second batch, I put it in the tray instead.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and discard any liquid/sauce. The meat will shrink slightly away from the edges of the baking tray.

Put another sheet of parchment paper on top and flip over another side. Take away the first parchment paper.

Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the meat becomes golden brown with slight burn.

Cool on the wire rack. Cut into desired shapes and sizes with a knife, scissors or pizza cutter.

Store in the air tight container and keep them in the refrigerator until required.

You may put it under a medium broiler to sizzle and caramelised it further. Make sure it do not over charred.

Baking Method 2:
There is another method of baking the bak kwa (This time I lightly greased the baking tray with some cooking oil instead of parchment paper):