While we’re all busy celebrating the New Year, the Chinese New Year is right around the corner in February. Serendipitously, 2019 is the Year of the Pig. So ... a bit of homemade Char Siu Pork to celebrate seemed in order.
I started with a riff on the Char Siu marinade recipe on AmazingRibs.com. I increased the heat (an extra TBSP of Sriracha) and sweet (extra couple of TBSP of honey), and will be tweaking it a bit more on the next go-round.
Four pounds of country style ribs ... and individual spare ribs would have worked just as well (or better). They went into the refrigerator for 24 hours, but next time I'm going to extend to 36 or even 48 to amp these up just a touch.
They went into the Blaz'n Gridiron at 250° over CookinPellets Perfect Mix. Not for nothing, but if you're looking for good transport baskets for smoking larger quantities of small items, bagel/pastry baskets from a restaurant supply store are six kinds of awesome.
The ribs ran for 45 minutes, at which point I glazed with reserved marinade (brought to a boil with some extra honey added) every 20 minutes thereafter, flipping each time.
At 2.5 hours, they were ready for service.
Served with a little bit of jasmine rice and my favorite soy sauce and I feel that the next orbit around the Sun is off to a good start.
Happy New Year, everyone!