Bak Kwa

Ingredients

Meat

• 1 kgminced pork shoulder, 20 to 25 percent fat, minced twice
• 150 gpork back fat, finely minced (optional, for a richer sheet)

Marinade

• 160 gcaster sugar
• 40 mllight soy sauce
• 20 mldark soy sauce
• 30 mlfish sauce
• 30 mlShaoxing wine
• 1 tbspChinese rose wine (mei kuei lu chiew)
• 1 tspfive-spice powder
• 1 tspwhite pepper
• ½ tspground cinnamon
• 1 tspfine salt
• ½ tspred yeast rice powder, for the classic colour (optional)

To glaze

• 3 tbsphoney mixed with 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tbspof the reserved marinade

Directions

1. Mix the minced pork with all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl and stir vigorously in one direction with a spatula or chopsticks for 8–10 minutes. The mixture must become sticky, pale and paste-like, pulling away from the bowl in strands; this protein extraction is what lets it hold together as a thin sheet.
2. Reserve 1 tbsp of the raw mixture’s liquid for the glaze if it is loose, cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 24. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
3. Spoon about 350 g of the mixture onto it, lay a second sheet of paper over the top, and roll it out with a rolling pin to an even 2–3 mm sheet, right to the edges. Evenness is critical: thick spots stay raw and chewy while thin edges burn.
4. Check by holding the tray up to the light through the paper.
5. Peel off the top paper and dry the sheets in a 100°C (200°F) oven for 15 minutes a side, or in a dehydrator at 70°C (160°F) for 45 minutes, until the surface is matt, firm and no longer wet. The sheet should be leathery, not cooked through.
6. Cut each dried sheet into squares of about 10 cm with kitchen scissors or a pizza wheel. Over medium charcoal, or under a hot grill 10 cm from the element, cook the squares 2–3 minutes a side, brushing with the honey glaze on each turn.
7. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before eating.

Technique

• Bak kwa (rou gan in Mandarin) is a Fujianese and Teochew preserved meat that became a Singaporean institution. Queues outside Lim Chee Guan and Bee Cheng Hiang on Chinatown’s New Bridge Road before Chinese New Year run for hours, and it is given in bright red boxes as a gift.
• The two-stage cooking is the whole method: a low dry stage that sets the sheet and drives off moisture, then a fierce charcoal stage that caramelises the sugar and adds smoke. Doing it in one stage gives either a raw middle or a burnt crisp.
• Food safety: this is a dried and grilled product, not a cured one in the charcuterie sense, and the drying alone is not a preservation step you should trust. Grill it to a core temperature of at least 71°C (160°F), refrigerate it, and treat it as a fresh product with about a week of life.
• Red yeast rice, not food colouring, is the traditional source of the red hue. It is optional and contributes a faint winey note; without it the sheets come out a natural brown.

Substitutions

• No charcoal? Finish under an oven grill at maximum, watching every 30 seconds, or in a very hot dry pan; you lose the smoke but keep the lacquer.
• Chinese rose wine is hard to find outside Asian grocers. Use an extra 1 tbsp of Shaoxing plus 2 drops of rose water, or simply leave it out.
• Minced chicken thigh makes a lighter version sold as chicken bak kwa; increase the fat with 100 g of chicken skin minced in, or the sheets dry out.

Variations

• Sliced bak kwa, made from whole thin slices of pork leg rather than minced meat, chewier and more expensive.
• Chilli bak kwa, with 1 tbsp of chilli powder in the marinade.
• Gourmet versions studded with pine nuts or brushed with a mala glaze, sold in Singapore in the run-up to the new year.

History

Queues form outside Singapore’s Chinatown shops before Lunar New Year, when the sheets are given as gifts.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bak Kwa?

Bak Kwa is a charcuterie & cured from Singapore: sweet, sticky sheets of pork marinated in sugar and soy, grilled over charcoal. Queues form outside Singapore’s Chinatown shops before Lunar New Year, when the sheets are given as gifts.

How long does Bak Kwa take to make?

Bak Kwa takes 40 min plus overnight marinating of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 sheets, 700 g finished. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Bak Kwa?

Yes, within limits. No charcoal? Finish under an oven grill at maximum, watching every 30 seconds, or in a very hot dry pan; you lose the smoke but keep the lacquer. Chinese rose wine is hard to find outside Asian grocers. Use an extra 1 tbsp of Shaoxing plus 2 drops of rose water, or simply leave it out. Minced chicken thigh makes a lighter version sold as chicken bak kwa; increase the fat with 100 g of chicken skin minced in, or the sheets dry out.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bak Kwa?

Mix the minced pork with all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl and stir vigorously in one direction with a spatula or chopsticks for 8–10 minutes. The mixture must become sticky, pale and paste-like, pulling away from the bowl in strands; this protein extraction is what lets it hold together as a thin sheet.