Bakkwa (Chinese style pork jerky)

Bakkwa; aka dried meat. I gave into my bakkwa craving this Lunar New Year and I decided to make it by myself. It is much easier than I anticipated. Traditionally bakkwa is made from pork and it’s barbecued but you can pretty much use any minced meat and this is where the oven comes very handy. I use the oven method but you can also grill this on a barbecue if you’d like.

Ingredients 🥩
- 1 kg minced pork (try to get as much fat as possible as it will make the meat smoother)
- 160 grams sugar
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy
- 2 tbsp light soy
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp five spice powder
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- A Dash of Shiao Xing wine

For glazing, mix the two below until well incorporated
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp water

Steps:
1. Marinade the meat in all the ingredients for at least 6 hours or overnight. The meat should become pasty.
2. Preheat the over to 160C and lined a baking tray with foil.
3. Roll the meat out onto the pan by using a cling wrap to cover the top and a rolling pin, until it is about 3mm thick (mine was a little thicker because I like that better).
4. Place the pan onto the 3rd oven rack and allow it to bake for 15 minutes. Discard excess liquid from the meat.
5. Cut the meat into desired squares and flip it to the other side. Bake it for another 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and you’ll notice that the meat is still pale looking.
6. Increase the oven temperature to 200C (if your oven is too hot, put it to 190C and monitor the meat periodically).
7. Brush the pieces of meat with honey water. Bake it for 10-15 minutes until the top caramalises.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and flip the meat pieces to the other side. Brush the other side with honey water and bake it again for another 10-15 minutes.
9. Repeat steps 3 - 8 for excess meat. Once all done, let them cool down completely before storing them in an air-tight container.
10. Enjoy! 🥓