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Look at my pork booty! My beautiful babies! Bak Kwa
They look a little weird but these gorgeous meaty salty-sweet slabs, aka Bak Kwa or Long Yok is hands down, my favourite snack of all time. Every time I go back to Kuala Lumpur, I go nuts and buy loads of the stuff from my favourite store along Jalan Alor. In Sydney, Friday night Chinatown Markets are never the same unless I pop into my fave greasy stall and buy a sheet of Chinese ‘honey pork’ as a pre-dinner snack.
My earliest memory of it was when I lived in Perth. I remember greedily stuffing a buttered hot dog bun with slices of bak kwa and tucking in while watching the Australian Open tennis or Hopman Cup. Then give or take, a couple of days later, I was always severely punished for stealing too many slices and leaving barely any for the rest of the family (hey you snooze, you lose ya’ll!).
Mother Superior was brilliant at making it and this was adapted from her long standing family recipe (adapted as in, she never gave me the exact measurements for the ingredients!). I was always her faithful kitchenhand because the pay off at the end was worth it. Traditionally the pork was dried out the natural (and tediously long) way; outside under the hot sun, which in summer, was a hellish job if you were on ‘insect duty’. I had to risk heatstroke under the brutal Perth sun just to defend the precious porky slabs against menacing flies with my fly swatter. It’s a brutal job but a rite of passage in our Malaysian family. Even The Captain has been officially inducted into the Bak Kwa Fly Swatter Hall of Fame.
The first time I made it by myself was about 8 months ago when I threw a spring bbq for my nearest and dearest pals. I decided to whip up some bak kwa with leftover pork mince the night before just for giggles but sadly, Mother Superior was off cruising the high seas so I was well on my own. Coming up with the marinade through flashbacks (and a round of hypnosis) took a while and I tweaked it for gawd knows how long (add a little and taste. Add a little more and taste again aaargh). Thankfully it went down well but I knew I wanted to play with the recipe a bit. You should’ve seen one unfortunate batch where I accidentally used violet food colouring instead of red. Woohoo trippy unappetising pork jerky!
This stuff is usually expensive to buy because apparently it takes a lot of work but I’m here to tell you that it’s way easier than you think. Forget the archaic solar-assisted drying techniques! Do it in no time at all and minus the sunburn with an oven. Roll out the mince into sheets in a few seconds with clingwrap or baking paper and a rolling pin. Then just bake, cut and grill. And voila! You’ll soon be richly rewarded with sticky slabs of juicy grilled pork ‘jerky’ to gorge at your heart’s content. Best of all because you made it, you can have as much as you want and no one can scold you for it hah!
{ 84 comments… read them below or add one }
Karen I think I love you for putting up this recipe!! Can’t wait to give it a go :D
Minh recently posted..Singapore Stopovers
Hehe you’re welcome Minh! Hope you enjoy it as much as last time :)
It looks kinda weird! But the flavours sound really good.
muppy recently posted..Steamed Seafood Dumplings
Lol it’s def not the most photogenic food! But it’s really moreish I assure you!
mmm JUICY and lol @ your last tag!
Gah it’s the same with everything in Malaysia! Million names for one thing!
YESSSS!!! I’ve been waiting for this one!!! Ommggg I think I just had a meatgasm, I am so sad we aren’t meeting up this week so I can try some of this :(:(:( It’s so damn pretty!
I promise you I’ll make it again and give it you Steph!! x
I have a preference for sliced meat long yuk, not from the mince. My favorite is from Wing Heong at Jalan Imbi. That would be harder to pull off at home unless we have very good knife skills, what do you reckon?
pickyin @ LifeIsGreat recently posted..Caffè HABITŪ the table at GOD Causeway Bay- Hong Kong
Aah naughty me but I’ve still yet to bravely stray away from the mince to go for the dried meat long yok. Do you like the bacon version? I saw that for the first time in Jalan Alor last time I was back in KL and I was wow! But yeah, I can imagine it’d be hard to slice the meat long yok thinly enough without an awesome knife.
Bacon version? I’ve tried the ones in Singapore (they’re not good) but not the ones in KL. Sliced meat is not favored by many anyway as it’s more chewy. Kudos to making your own!
pickyin @ LifeIsGreat recently posted..Red Velvet Cake
Awesome! Thanks so much for the recipe Karen. I haven’t had this in ages. What happens if you don’t add the food colouring? Does it turn into an unappetizing grey?
shaz recently posted..Malaysian Monday 73- Kai Tan Koh Steamed sponge cake
Hi Shaz! I think it’d be brownish from the kecap manis, which is pretty strong colour wise. I guess if it does turn into a shade, a bit of kecap manis should do the trick! A lot of bak kwa that I’ve seen that aren’t red are usually a dark caramelised brown.
Aha, I was right, Asian and Sweet.. I’ll give the link to my carnivore friends… I’ll wait for the vegetarian version :D
Elizabeth recently posted..DuPont and Rashid- Marry Me
Lol I can’t imagine what you could use to replace meat to make it vegetarian :S
Fabulous, this has been on my list to try forever! Thanks for the reminder, yum, yum, yum.
Debs @ DKC recently posted..Hospital Update March 2011
You’re most welcome Deb! :D
Look how good your pork babies are!!! I LOOOOVE bak kwa. there’s some place in Melbourne that makes amazing bak kwa actually. my aunty brought me a vacuum sealed back of it last time she came to visit hehehe :)
catty recently posted..Cay Tre- Soho- putting my behind in my present
Is it really expensive in Melb Cat? I’ve only ever seen bak kwa in a stall in Chinatown markets and they sell for $4 a slice :(
OMG! My mouth is watering at the thought of these babies.. They are sooooo good! Thanks for all your hard work in perfecting this recipe and sharing it with us!
LOL no worries Phuoc! :D
Ha! I thought this was going to be a post about a baklava incarnation of some sort. Not everything is what it sounds in other languages! It looks good, but I might have to try some from a shop first – it is a recipe for a bucketload!
Martyna (Wholesome Cook) recently posted..Kylie Kwong’s roast beef with Asian paste and lime- garlic cucumber salad
Hahaha easy mistake to make come to think of it. I admit some people that aren’t familiar with it do think it’s weird when they hear pork with sugar and honey but I’m optimistic that the taste is special enough to convert them :)
ohhh myyy lard….THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! for this recipe! i’m weeping tears of joy /sniff
kimberlycun recently posted..Strawberry chocolate sponge roll recipe
Awwww you’re welcome! Hope you can make it soon :D
YUM! My aunt makes this every now and then, so much better than store bought ones :) but she doesnt add food dye so it looks brown lol
Usually I find the Malaysian versions tend to be more red but the ones I’ve seen made by Chinese and Tawainese are browner. Either colour is quite common but personally I’d eat it, no matter what it looks like hehe.
omg. i’ve been looking for a decent recipe with all the right steps and all the awesome pictures like yours! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! as i love bakkwa (chicken version – i don’t take pork) i’ll try to do it with chicken mince the next time i try it!
also, i’m wondering about the answer to shaz’s question of whether it would turn into an unappetizing grey without food coloring?
thanks!
Oooh yum, I’ve never had a chicken mince version before so should def try it next time! Without food colouring, the bak kwa should be brown from the kecap manis/dark soy sauce, which is also a common colour of bak kwa if it isn’t red. So feel free to adjust the colour and darkness of it by adding more or less kecap manis :)
I certainly hope you get to try this soon and let me know how it goes! Thanks for your lovely comments! :D
I am simultaneously drooling and being repelled a little by this recipe (I think it’s the colour more than anything….), I’d like to echo Shaz’s question above – what happens if you don’t colour it? Grey sludge?
I adore pork goodies but something in my head can’t get round the idea of pork mince jerky! Am determined to try it anyway, as I’ve never found a bit of pig I didn’t love and this has to be better for me than frying up a batch of crackling every week! Is the final texture crisp, or more chewy?
Emma recently posted..Gin & Tonic Granita
Haha embrace the red Emma! If it isn’t red, then bak kwa would usually be a caramelised brown from the kecap manis/dark soy sauce so no grey sludge if you don’t want it to be I promise :)
I think for people that are unfamiliar with it will find it a bit odd on paper but I just adore the salty sweet sticky quality of it, which obviously goes well with pork flavour-wise. The texture is totally up to you. It’s not meant to be crispy but more chewy. However if you prefer it softer and more chewy, make the slabs thicker and make sure not to over-cook it on the grill. Some people prefer to make the bak kwa thinner and more cooked for a slightly tougher texture (personally I like it soft). Hope this helps! Don’t forget the recipe can be easily halved so you can make a smaller quantity if you’d like to try it :)
“Joo yook gon”, just to add another phoeneticisation =D Love this stuff no matte the name or colour, and one of my must-eats whenever i’m in Hong Kong.
And, haha, go the trippy purple pork jerky!
mademoiselle délicieuse recently posted..Mango Restaurant 不見不散
Lol Rita, trippy jerky wasn’t pretty at all!
OMG I SO HAVE TO MAKE THIS!!!! i eat tones of it when I go back!
Iron Chef Shellie recently posted..Pulled Pork – The Blithely Unaware Way
Hi Shellie!, Hehe that’s why I make 2kg worth :P
I LOVE BA KWA…give me ba kwa and 2 slices of buttered bread – HEAVEN! My siblings and I would steal heaps from the serving container during CNY before the guests arrived! hehe
Hi Mei, lol that’s how I love it! I think every kid has been a bak kwa thief at some point in their lives :D
I do love Bak Kwa. We have our resident Malaysian Mama at work, Susan Lee and she brings it in and we fight over it. Its amazing. I love the colour…. Delicious..
Katherine recently posted..Tapas – Dinner Party
Oooh wow lucky you Kath! I wish I had a Malaysian Mama to bring in goodies for me at work.
This looks soo nice! I actually dropped by the night markets last night and grabbed one (but it was beef)
Ummm yum, I love the smell of the charcoal in the air at the markets :)
Ooooh this is different to the kind of jerky that I grey up with. Looks so gorgeously sticky!
angie recently posted..Giant Sticky Chocolate Brownies – Edible Gifts
Is the Vietnamese version like the dried meat type in Cabramatta? I really like that one too but yeah, the Malaysian is much more chewy and sweeter :)
Bookmarked and making. OMG.. you are too good.
penny aka jeroxie recently posted..Guest Post – Malaysian Hawker Style Cooking with Chef Wanitha
Aww thanks Penny! :D
How have I not had this before?! I mean, I live in Perth and watch tennis and everything! Damn me and my non-Malaysian family!
Luckily you have now supplied the resources for me to make up for so many years of going without this. Pork jerky, soon you will be mine :D
Conor @ Hold the Beef recently posted..The Amazement Begins
Lol Conor, if only you lived on my street, my neighbours were very well educated in Malay food hehe. We could’ve had awesome street cricket matches as well as Malaysian lunches while watching tennis together :)
Bravo, I salute you for making this from scratch! I only buy from the stores!
Bee | Rasa Malaysia recently posted..Hokkaido Soft Bread Hokkaido Milk Loaf
Hi Bee! I guess here in Sydney, I have no choice but to make it hehe. Otherwise I’ll never get to eat it as much as I want :)
This is PRECIOUS. I can’t wait to give this recipe a go! I thought it would be ever so complicated, but it’s actually feasible and relatively simple! Cheers!:)
Hi Chloe! I hope you enjoy it! :D
Hats off to you. I don’t like it quite enough to go through this!
chopinandmysaucepan recently posted..Sushi Hon- Westfield Sydney
Naww really? Lol but I agree, it is an acquired taste for those who didn’t grow up eating it a lot!
Man . . I loved this!
Perfect for a sandwich filling with loads of butter.
SK recently posted..Roast Pork Baguette – Honey Mayo – Brie – Taste Baguette
Hi SK, oooohh that’s exactly how I like it! Esp with soft, sweet bread ummmm :)
I am so trying this!!!
Sara @ Belly Rumbles recently posted..KFC for breakfast anyone
Hehe awesome Sara! Hope you enjoy it :D
Wow – I had no idea that this was just made from mince… In fact, I’m not sure what I thought it was made from….
Tina@foodboozeshoes recently posted..Asia tripping – part VIII- Hong Kong
Rofl Tina :D
This looks absolutely sensational!! I am really really going to give this try… maybe for Chinese New Year.. give those stalls a run for their money :D!
shirley@kokken69 recently posted..Hei Bee Hiam – Sambal Udang Kering
Lol thanks Shirley! But CNY is too far away hehe. I plan to eat it before then :P
that looks abosulety delish..
i bet you its addictive too !!!
good work akren
Dolly recently posted..Temasek – Parramatta
Thank u!
This looks amazing — love the flavor combination, but I must admit I’m a bit hesitant to make so much of something I’ve never tried before. Do you think you could make just a little bit? Would the recipe divide well?
emiglia recently posted..Foodbuzz 24×24- A Proustian Picnic
Hi Emiglia, absolutely this recipe can easily be adapted to smaller quantities. For example it can be easily quartered to use 500g of mince. It’s not a baking recipe so it’s very forgiving if quantities need to be adjusted and changed. Hope this helps!
I’ve tried a few Bak Kua recipes, but they just don’t taste right. Do you think it’s because I’ve replaced the Shaoxing wine with Sake(can’t find Shaoxing here in Finland). I want them to taste just like they do at the stand on Jalan Alor, which you can see on this page: http://deaguwapa.com/the-jalan-alor-experience/. After trying three different recipes, I’m not close enough, but I’m still hoping!
Hi John, sake is a slightly different flavour to shaoxing (and more subtle) so it would affect the taste to an extent but I think it could be a combination of things. In a bak kwa recipe, each ingredient is vital (for example, once I tried it without fish sauce and I was amazed at how different it tasted!). For me the chinese five spice powder and fish sauce are important as it gives it a certain taste and fragrance. Also the pork has to be sweet like it is in Malaysia so don’t be afraid of adding enough sugar and honey. Do you remember what it was about the other recipes that wasn’t right? Was it not salty or sweet enough? Or was it too strong or weak in a certain flavour?
If you wish, feel free to try this recipe out with sake and see how you go. Taste-wise it comes pretty close to what I love about bak kwa and from what I remember from the ones I bought in Malaysia. I hope this helps you out a little. Any more questions, feel free to contact me :)
Thank you so much, I am certainly going to try making it one day.
A couple of questions- do you use the normal Thai fish sauce? And approximately how much grilling time would it take?
Apologies Dede for the late reply! And yes, I do use a normal thai fish sauce. Grilling time varies according to ovens etc. (i.e. mine is pretty crappy hehe). My advice is to not turn the heat to the highest because it will burn quickly and do not leave the kitchen! Keep an eye on them with tongs in hand because it won’t take long at all to caramelise. Hope this helps!
Oh Em Gee.
Since getting back from my trip to Singapore, I’ve had dreams about delicious Bak Kwa.
Thanks for sharing this, I’ll definitely give this a whirl on the weekend <3
Hi Sophie! Hope you enjoy it! Bak kwa always makes me homesick too :(
Thanks for this recipe Karen – as a child I used to have this all the time – when we were traveling to HK or if someone came from Singapore they would bring us some. I never thought I could make this at home. I’m going to try this soon.
Hi Trissa, I use to rely on my mom for bak kwa fixes but she rarely made it unless she was in the mood. It def is nice to make it for myself now :) Hope you get to try it soon and enjoy! :D
OMG – I love this stuff. In fact, I just ate 2 pieces today from the little shop in Chinatown. It cost $4.50 for 2 pieces and thought it was so so soooo delicious, I started wondering if it was easy to make at home. A quick google and I found you and this recipe that uses ingredients that I readily have and makes a truckload it seems. Thanks for sharing!!
StillTraveller recently posted..Before the Tokyo Sky Tree, there was Tokyo Tower
Wow, thanks for the detailed instructions. Just in time for me to give it a go for CNY here, since I won’t be going back to KL to celebrate next year.
Chrys recently posted..Many thanks, congratulations and best wishes!
Your recipe and instructions are ‘user-friendly’. Thank you. Being in Africa all these goodies are hard to get so one has to be hands on to make them. 3 questions before I start (i) can I use beef. (ii)what is the non alcoholic substitute for shoaxing wine (iii) how many pieces come out of recipe. BTW any recipe for Yau char Kwai /Chinese crullers. Haven’t had one in ages.
Can you use ground pork instead of minced pork?
I’ve just made some bak kwa with a recipe using orange zest, taste a bit weird.. Yours look so juicy and plump.. almost like the ones in Malaysia. I’m going to try your recipe next. I don’t have a grill, so i just use the oven. Why do I need to grill in at the end?
Hi Shannon, grilling it caramelises the bak kwa which means of course, a better flavour. Which is why they grill it over charcoal in Malaysia. If you have no grill or bbq then just cooking it in the oven until it’s caramelised should be good enough. Hope this helps
thanks for your recipe and inspiration, I end up grilling them over my stove and the bakkwa turn out so good! just posted on my blog.. but it’s too salty and sweet for my taste. Maybe I marinate it too long,,
Shannon | Just As Delish recently posted..Homemade Bak Kwa (Dried Meat)
Hi Shannon, feel free to adjust the amount of salt and sugar. This bak kwa recipe was made for my palate but since everybody has different taste buds then some adjusting of saltiness and sweetness might be needed.
Do you know if there is a class with a professional from whom I can learn to cook this stuff!
Thanks,Alex
Hi Karen, I made bak kwa according to your recipe last night. They turned out really well! I hope you don’t mind me linking to this page from my blog entry. You’ve done such a wonderful job with the tutorial that I was content to indulge my laziness and just refer everyone to your blog xD
Lucy (Beyond Bourke Street) recently posted..Bak kwa (aka. "rou gan" or pork jerky!)
Hi Lucy, no worries! Glad you enjoyed it :)
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