Japanese Char Siu Experiment Results

Song:  Puamana (Sea breeze)

Artists:  Keola and Kapono Beamer

This was one of my favorite albums when I lived in Hawaii (Oahu).

I picked this song because it reminds me of great times...

instead of my focusing on my defeat  :)

I had disproved my hypothesis  :(

My wife's recipe was simpler...

and the results were better.

Cooking does not have a laboratory setting where you control all of the variables

and change only one at a time to get definitive results.

Don't get me wrong...

it turned out okay...

but I had over cooked it some.

I was shooting for a much more moist and flavorable result.

My hypothesis on the cooking time was also off.

I ended up having to cook everything for 1.5 hours.

In retrospect...

1.25 hours would have been about right.

I humbly bow to all the more experienced cooks out there...

my wife being one of them  :)

Use my wife's recipe in the previous article.

A total of over 5 lbs. of meat.

After an hour and a half of cooking at 325 degrees F...

I took the pan out and covered it to rest the meat for 20 minutes.

I prepared the meals by taking out our favorite kimchis.

My mother likes the young won bok kimchi...

while I like my modified kimchi (with a lot more ground red Korean pepper mixed in).

The finished product.

Everything was laid out...

and we enjoyed a fine meal.

We ended eating about over a pound of the char siu (two pieces of meat sliced up).

This was the first slicing of the meat.

What is strange

is that one of the larger pieces of meat was a bit dried out...

while one of the smaller pieces was moist...almost throughout.

This simply does not make any sense to me.

The smaller piece was next to the larger one.

The result should have been the opposite.

Anyways...

tomorrow, we will have char siu with somen.

And if there is any left...

I will make a char siu salad on the next day...

or we may just leave it for movie night...

and snack on slices of it.

I wrapped up a chunk of char siu for my wife and son to enjoy...

and I took it home when I left my mother's for the night.

I placed the remainder in the fridge for the meals to come.

While my mother said she enjoyed the meal thoroughly...

you know...

Moms...

they will say anything to ensure their children do not feel bad  :)

I did enjoy the meal...

but it wasn't what I was expecting.

I wanted the char siu to be absolutely mouth watering...

and so moist...

well...it didn't work out that way.

All I can do now is chalk it up for experience...

and enjoy this song  :)

While this song is memorable...

my meal was not  :)