YA WIN SOME AND LOSE SOME.

[Rich Dahl]

Last night we made a dish out of Weber’s New American Barbeque book.
It was Barbeque Char Siu.

I have all of Jamie Purviance Weber books and have made a lot of his great recipes. But sadly this wasn’t one of them. We followed the directions to the letter except for using a gasser instead of a charcoal grill, due to the charcoal restrictions and rain.

The roast was marinated for 30+ hours as suggested then grilled indirect with apple smoke.

Pulled the roast at the designated temperature and let it rest 10 minutes as instructed.

The roast was bone dry and none of the marinade had penetrated the meat and the glaze on top was so salty the whole thing was inedible.

So if you have this book I wouldn’t recommend this recipe.

 

[DanHoo]

Thanks for sharing.

What IT did you cook to?

 

[Brett-EDH]

unfortunately, you need to use a fork or mat tenderizer to create 1,000 pin holes in the meat for any marinade to penetrate.

i use this one for my char siu:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRHG8CR/?tag=tvwb-20

i also always cut up the roast into smaller chunks, as smaller chunks allow for more marinade penetration and a quicker cook as many smaller pieces come to temp versus one large one. my goto on done temp is around 145 on this cook. you can go higher if you prefer but we like the juicer taste of the 145 temp.

sorry you didn't get your desired results. that's never fun.

 

[ChuckO]

Bummer Rich

Was there any vinegar in the marinade? Vinegar is pretty good breaking down meat. My favorite for Pork is Balsamic Vinegar

 

[Joan]

Rich, hope you don't mind, I'd like to post the recipe here from my BBQ/Grilling Cookbook thread. I'd like to get more suggestions on how to improve on it, really did want to make it. So sorry you were disappointed.

Barbecued Char Siu

Marinade
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup bourbon
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 TB. toasted sesame oil
2 TB. peeled, minced fresh ginger
1 TB. minced garlic
2 tsp. Chinese five spice
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

1 boneless pork loin roast, about 3 lbs.
Ramen (optional)
sliced scallions (optional)
2 large handfuls apple or cherry wood chips

1. In a large bowl whisk the marinade ingredients. Pour off and reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade for basting the roast. Place
the roast in a large, resealable plastic bag and pour in the remaining marinade. Press the air out of the bag and seal tightly.
Turn the bag to distribute the marinade, place in a bowl, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours,
turning occasionally.
2. Remove the roast from the bag and discard the marinade in the bag. Allow the roast to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.
3. Soak the wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes.
4. Prepare the charcoal grill for indirect cooking over medium heat (350 to 450F).
5. Drain and add the wood chips to the charcoal. Grill the roast over indirect medium heat, with the lid closed, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 150F, 45 minutes to 1 hour, basting occasionally with the reserved 1/2 cup marinade. Do not baste during the final 15 minutes of cooking time. Remove from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes.

Source: Weber's New American Barbecue-Jamie Purviance-2016

Last edited: Jun 13, 2022

 

[DanHoo]

<snip >
5. Drain and add the wood chips to the charcoal. Grill the roast over indirect medium heat, with the lid closed, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 150F,

My experience with pork loin is to cook/smoke/roast indirect until IT is 130F or at most 135F, otherwise it dries out too much for me.

edit:
If I'm doing a lower temp smoke ( 225F grate ) I'll take IT to 135F.
If I'm cooking at a higher temp ( 300F or higher grate ) I pull at 130F and tent it. Carryover will go to around 140.

 

[Brett-EDH]

My experience with pork loin is to cook/smoke/roast indirect until IT is 130F or at most 135F, otherwise it dries out too much for me.

edit:
If I'm doing a lower temp smoke ( 225F grate ) I'll take IT to 135F.
If I'm cooking at a higher temp ( 300F or higher grate ) I pull at 130F and tent it. Carryover will go to around 140.

hmmm, char siu is usually made with butt, not loin roast. loin makes good mu shu pork though. i don't think i'd use loin for char siu. it cannot handle the heat without drying out.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Thanks for sharing.

What IT did you cook to?

150 as directed. But I agree with your temps of 130 for a hot cook and 135 for a low temp cook. But not knowing what a 30 hour marinade would due to the meat I went with the directions given and with no penetration of the marinade it dried out.

 

[DanHoo]

How much is leftover?

I wish I could say I've never overcooked a pork loin... I have rescued one or two by reheating thin slices by adding them to sautéed onions and then adding other stuff like green chili's.

But you also mentioned the salt flavor...

 

[Rich Dahl]

How much is leftover?

I wish I could say I've never overcooked a pork loin... I have rescued one or two by reheating thin slices by adding them to sautéed onions and then adding other stuff like green chili's.

But you also mentioned the salt flavor...

No leftovers we trashed it

I'm on a low sodium diet, have been for 20 years. So my tolerance for salt is pretty low. Occasionally I'll splurge and have something with a little more salt then I should. But I didn't realize the Hoisin sauce was 1090 Mg of sodium in two tablespoons and we use low sodium soy sauce and it's about the same and the marinade had a half cup of each.
Barb said it was pretty salty but tolerable and she's not on a low salt diet. So I think it was just my reaction too that much salt.