Char Siu Pork Belly

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

This insanely good roast pork belly recipe breaks all the rules of marinating as it contains quite a lot of sugar, which could burn very easily on a barbecue. The trick is to cook it indirectly, at a fairly low to moderate heat. You will still get a lot of lovely browning and sticky caramelization, which may surprise you— but remember that the marvelous Maillard reactions happen at low temperatures as well as high ones (see Cook’s Note). Traditionally maltose is the sugar of choice, although a neutral-tasting honey is a good substitute. Beware, maltose is exceedingly thick and sticky. Use a spoon warmed in boiling water to scoop it out and into a small bowl, then give it a few seconds in a microwave to melt before using in the marinade. Pork belly, sliced into ribs, is essentially the same as spare ribs but just extra meaty and with less butchering involved, so you could substitute spare ribs if you like.

4½ pounds bone-in pork belly

4 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons maltose, warmed, or runny honey

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 ounce fresh ginger root, grated

1½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice

1 teaspoon white pepper, ideally freshly ground

1. Take your pork belly and use a very sharp knife to remove the rind, cutting between the skin and fat below with gentle sweeping strokes. Cut the belly into slices, following the bones, so you get really thick, meaty ribs. At the ends the pieces may be rather more triangular than long and rib-shaped, which is just fine. Set in a shallow dish in a single snug layer.

2. Make the marinade by stirring together the soy, rice wine, hoisin, warmed maltose or honey, molasses, sesame oil and tomato ketchup. Add the garlic, ginger, five-spice and white pepper and stir well to combine. Pour over the pork and toss it about to mix thoroughly. Cover the dish and set in the fridge for 24 hours if you have time; 48 hours wouldn’t hurt.

3. When you’re ready to cook, fire up your grill ready for indirect grilling, with a fire piled to one side of your barbecue. You are aiming to have a temperature of around 260–280°F inside the barbecue, so shut air vents right down to keep the temperature steady.

4. Rest the pork onto the grill bars, arranging it so the pieces are as far from the fire as possible. Reserve the extra marinade left in the dish. Shut the lid and cook for around 4 to 5 hours, maybe a little more, turning and rotating the pieces every 45 minutes or so and brushing with a little of the extra marinade as you go. You are aiming for a soft and yielding texture, so test by easing the meat from the bone. If it’s resistant, cook for longer. As long as the meat is far from the fire, the cooking here is really rather hands off. Serve hot and sticky, straight from the grill.

Cook’s Note: Maillard was a French chemist who first described the phenomenon in 1912. More than just caramelization, which is simply the burning of sugars, Maillard is a chemical reaction sequence that begins between a simple sugar molecule and a protein, or amino acid, creating an unstable intermediate structure. This then goes on to react again and again and again in a series of simultaneous chain reactions that produce literally hundreds of new flavor molecules. It’s no wonder we find browned food irresistible. Maillard reactions are the backbone of good cooking and good eating: Things that have undergone its reaction process simply taste of more. ■

NUTRITION (PER SERVING)

RUMP TAIL OR TRI-TIP, PLUS SAUCES (STEAK ONLY) CALORIES: 315, FAT:

16G (SAT: 7G), CHOLESTEROL:

91 MG, SODIUM: 1830 MG, CARB: 0G, FIBER: 0G, SUGAR:

0G, PROTEIN: 56G

Walnut and Tarragon

Pesto: CALORIES: 380, FAT:

41G (SAT: 5 G), CHOLESTEROL:

0 MG, SODIUM: 0 MG, CARB:

Fuel Set-ups for Different Sorts of Cooking

You can set out your fire in different ways depending on what you are cooking and how long it is going to take. What you never, ever want to do is fill the base of your barbecue with an even layer of lit fuel. This would ruin your ability to create the all-important “heat zones” and would give you no temperature control whatsoever. Things would just be HOT. So the fuel needs to go in one area while another area is left entirely fuel-free. This gives you direct vs indirect cooking, the absolute linchpin to mastering barbecue cooking. These are different fire set-ups I go to as standard in my kettle barbecue:

■ Half and half: My most used set-up. Lit coals on one half, no fuel on the other. The amount of heat energy is greatest directly over the fire, and falls away in a left to right gradient the further away, or more indirectly, you go.

■ Two fires: If I am roasting a chicken or big joint of meat, I usually light two small fires, one to either side of the barbecue, with a good-sized fire-free gap in the center. This means the food gets a steady, even amount of heat from both sides, meaning you won’t need to rotate it mid-cook to make sure both sides get the same amount of heat.

■ Center fire: If I’m cooking a lot of small things— like chicken wings—I will light a fire in the center and arrange them in a ring around the perimeter of the barbecue. This way each wing is equidistant to the fire, getting the same amount of heat for a more even cook. I might use this way for sausages too.

GENEVIEVE TAYLOR

4G, FIBER: 2G, SUGAR: <1G, PROTEIN: 4G

Romesco Sauce: CALORIES: 280, FAT: 25G (SAT: 3 G),

CHOLESTEROL: 0 MG, SODIUM: 55 MG, CARB: 12G, FIBER: 3G, SUGAR: 3G, PROTEIN: 5G

Chimichurri Sauce:

CALORIES: 240, FAT: 25G (SAT: 3.5G), CHOLESTEROL: 0 MG, SODIUM: 15 MG, CARB:

6G, FIBER: 1G, SUGAR: 2G, PROTEIN: 1G

BALSAMIC PORK KEBABS, PESTO DRESSING

CALORIES: 294, FAT: 20G (SAT: 4G), CHOLESTEROL: 67 MG, SODIUM: 240 MG, CARB: 6G, FIBER: <1G, SUGAR: 4G, PROTEIN: 36G

STEAK, SPRING ONION AND GINGER SKEWERS

WITH CHILI PEANUT OIL CALORIES: 490, FAT: 47G (SAT: 8 G), CHOLESTEROL: 31 MG, SODIUM: 1160 MG, CARB: 5G, FIBER: 1G, SUGAR: 1G, PROTEIN: 25G

CHAR SIU PORK BELLY CALORIES: 637, FAT: 46G (SAT: 16G), CHOLESTEROL: 154 MG, SODIUM: 1120 MG, CARB: 20G, FIBER: 0G, SUGAR: 16G, PROTEIN: 62G

RECIPES AND PHOTOS FROM “SEARED: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BARBECUING MEAT” BY GENEVIEVE TAYLOR © 2022 REPRINTED