叉燒酥 (Char Siu Sou)

Roast pork in a sweet and savory sauce wrapped in a crisp and flaky crust, char siu pastries are a popular bakery snack, and can often be found on dim sum carts. Unlike many other intricate dim sum recipes though, these pastries are easy to make at home, with an assist from store-bought puff pastry [1].

Ingredients

***For the Filling***
6 oz. Chinese barbecue pork, chopped
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
½ cup water

The filling for this pastry is built around Chinese roast pork, or char siu. You can use char siu from a Chinese barbecue shop for this recipe, or you can follow the roast pork recipe here. Chop the roast pork into ½ inch pieces. In a small pot or saucepan, combine the chopped pork with the hoisin sauce, brown sugar, and about half a cup of water. Stir to combine, and bring the mixture to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Mix a teaspoon of cornstarch with a small amount of cold water, and then add the slurry to the pot. Keep the filling at a boil, stirring until the filling thickens. This should only take 2 minutes at the boil.

Make sure the filling is thickened sufficiently—a loose filling can leak out of the puff pastry when baked. If the sauce is too thin, add additional cornstarch slurry, but remember that the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Placing a warm filling in pastry creates two problems. First, the heat can melt the butter in the pastry, destroying the laminated layers and preventing the pastry from rising. Second, steam from the filling can condense into water inside the sealed pastry, loosening the filling and changing its consistency. To avoid both of these problems, remove the filling from the heat and chill in the refrigerator until cool (at least 30 minutes) before folding the pastries.

Ingredients

***For the Pastry***
Chilled roast pork filling
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

When you are ready to fill and bake, preheat the oven to 400° F, and line a sheet pan with tinfoil. Roll the puff pastry out to about ¼ inch thick, and cut it into 3 inch by 4 inch rectangles.

Place the pastry rectangles on the sheet pan and place about 2 tablespoons of chilled filling in the center of each piece of dough. Fold each pastry closed like a book, and crimp it closed with the tines of a fork. Using the fork, dock the top of the pastry several times, so steam can escape when it’s in the oven.

Beat the egg to form an egg wash, and brush the tops of each pastry with the egg. Then sprinkle sesame seeds over each pastry. The egg wash give the pastry its shine, and will allow the seeds to stick. Bake at 400° F for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastries are puffed and golden brown. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Substitutions

Some char siu fillings include some diced onion—feel free to add some to your filling, substituting out a portion of the roast pork. Sauté the onions to soften them before adding the other ingredients.

If you prefer a sweeter filling, reduce the amount of hoisin sauce and increase the amount of sugar.

[1] Traditional Chinese puff pastry dough is somewhat different from French-style laminated puff pastry dough. Instead of butter, Chinese pastry uses lard, and consists of layers of two different types of dough—a tougher hot water dough and a flaky short dough.

Recipe

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 30 min Total Time: 40 min
(+30 min inactive) (1 hr 10 min)

Difficulty: 2/5

Heat Sources: oven, 1 burner

Equipment: pot, sheet pan, basting brush

Servings: 12 pastries

Ingredients

For the Filling
6 oz. Chinese barbecue pork, chopped
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
½ cup water

For the Pastry
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

1. In a small pot, combine the chopped roast pork, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, and ½ a cup of water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

2. Mix the cornstarch with some cold water to form a slurry, then stir the slurry into the filling. Bring the filling to a boil and stir until thickened. Remove from the heat and chill in the refrigerator until cool, at least 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 400° F, and line a sheet pan with tinfoil.

4. Roll the puff pastry to about ¼ in thick, and cut into about 3 in x 4 in rectangles. Place the rectangles on the sheet pan and place 2 tbsp of chilled filling onto each piece of dough, folding each pastry closed. Crimp the pastry with a fork, and dock the top of the pastry so steam can escape.

5. Beat the egg to make an egg wash, and brush the tops of each pastry with the egg. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of each pastry.

6. Bake at 400° F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.