Char Siu Platter

Pork Shoulder, Turnips, Tamarind Hoisin, Salsa Criolla, Hot Sauce, Ginger-Scallion Sauce, and Bao Buns

Chef Will Fung of China Chilcano | Washington, D.C.

At the José Andrés restaurant, China Chilcano, Chef Will Fung’s menu walks guests through the history of Peruvian cuisine and its Chinese and Japanese influences. “The cuisine style leads to a lot of exploration,” says Fung. “It was shaped through immigration over the centuries.” Born and raised in Hong Kong, Fung blends in his own story with a Cantonese-style barbecued char siu pork. While American barbecue cooks meat via dry smoke, Fung says that Cantonese barbecue relies on steam to cook smaller portions of meat which shortens the cook time. For the char siu, slabs of pork shoulder marinate overnight in a sauce of maltose, honey, hoisin, molasses, fermented bean curd, and annatto then cooked in a combi oven with 40 percent humidity. Sliced to order, the pork is served with bao, Japanese-style pickled daikon and an array of sauces: Peruvian salsa criolla and rocoto sauce and Cantonese-inspired ginger scallion oil and tamarind hoisin. “A lot of Peruvian cuisine is about finding things that taste like home while utilizing things that are new to you,” says Fung. “It’s a little slice of home in a new surrounding.”

Adapted by StarChefs | March 2022

INGREDIENTS:

Char Siu Marinade:
Yield: 160 ounces
28 ounces maltose, warmed in hot water until pliable 
½ cup of kosher salt
3 ½ cups honey
4 ounces white peppercorns
1 ¼ cups smoked paprika
2 ½ cups dark molasses
3 ¾ cups dark soy sauce
1 ¼ cups Shaoxing wine
6 ounces Chinese five spice
4 ounces whole annatto seeds
2 pounds hoisin sauce

Char Siu:
Yield: 640 ounces
40 pounds pork shoulder, broken down into 1-pound slabs
8 ounces curing salt 

Nabo:
Yield: 128 ounces
10 pounds daikon radish, cut on a mandoline to ⅛-inch slices
2 cups plus 5 tablespoons kosher salt
1 gallon white vinegar 
1 quart granulated sugar 
10 ounces of frozen ají amarillo, cut into ¼-inch slices 

Tamarind Hoisin:
Yield: 3.53 ounces
8 milliliters light soy sauce
5 milliliters Chinkiang vinegar
0.8 grams ginger juice
65 grams hoisin sauce
47 grams tamarind paste

Salsa Criolla:
Yield: 1 serving
25 grams julienned red onion
2 grams sliced green onion
2 milliliters chiffonade cilantro
3 grams ají amarillo escabeche
3 milliliters lime juice
1 gram kosher salt

To Assemble and Serve:
Bao buns
Rocoto hot sauce
Ginger scallion sauce

METHOD:

For the Char Siu Marinade:
In a nonreactive container, mix to combine all ingredients and 2 ½ cups water. Refrigerate.

For the Char Siu:
Evenly sprinkle pork shoulder with curing salt. Refrigerate a minimum of 6 hours. Rub 4 quarts Char Siu Marinade onto the pork, coating all sides. Place pork in a nonreactive container and let marinate in the fridge a minimum of 12 hours. Heat a combi oven to 320°F at 50 percent humidity with a level 4 fan. On a foil-lined sheet tray set with a wire rack, lay out Char Siu pieces. Roast 20 minutes, flip pork pieces, then roast 20 minutes more, brushing on more Char Siu Marinade if needed. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the Nabo:
On a tray, layer daikon radish slices, sprinkling each layer with salt (2 cups total). Let sit at room temperature 30 minutes. Plunge the slices into cold water to rinse the salt off, then repeat this step 4 times. Transfer the slices to a strainer to drain. In a pot over medium heat, bring vinegar to a simmer. Add the sugar, the remaining salt, then ají amarillo, and rinsed daikon. Return to a simmer and then remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate. 

For the Tamarind Hoisin:
In a nonreactive container, mix to combine all ingredients. Refrigerate.

For the Salsa Criolla:
In a small metal bowl, mix red onion, green onion, cilantro, and ají amarillo. Dress with lime juice and salt. Set aside.

To Assemble and Serve:
In a steamer, warm up bao buns. Add Salsa Criolla, rocoto hot sauce, Nabo, ginger scallion sauce, and Tamarind Hoisin into individual ramekins and arrange on a serving plate. Slice one 1-pound slab of Char Siu against the grain to about ⅓-inch slices. Fan slices out on the serving plate and serve alongside bao buns. 

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