Thank you so much for responding to my Call for Recipes with so many wonderful choices! I've spent the last week reading them all and finding ways to incorporate many into our upcoming meal plans. This meal comes from Christin who got it from Cooking Light's 2007 list of annual recipes. It originally was made with pork, and called for sesame oil, minced garlic, and minced ginger. I thought we had sesame oil in the house, but I must have tossed it during the last refrigerator-clean-out and didn't feel like spending the time mincing garlic or ginger, and opted to use powdered garlic and upped the Chinese 5 spice powder to make up for the ginger. I also added a bit more honey (because we like it!)
I also used a 4 pound roast, and Cooking Light used a 2-3 pound roast. We really liked the results. Thank you, Christin!
The Ingredients.
4 pounds boneless beef or pork roast
1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/2 cup gluten free hoisin sauce
6 tablespoons ketchup
6 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder (or 6 cloves, minced)
The Directions.
Use a 5 quart slow cooker. Trim any visible fat from the meat, and plop it into your stoneware. My meat was fresh, but it's okay if your meat is still frozen. Sprinkle the dried spices directly onto the meat, and top with the ketchup and honey. Pour in the soy and hoisin sauces. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. You may need to take the meat out and cut in chunks after 8 hours, then turn to high for an hour or so to get it to shred nicely (I did this).
Serve over white or brown basmati rice, or over shredded cabbage. I used the cabbage, and we all liked it. The cabbage provided a bit of a crunch at first, but then got warm and soggy with the sauce. I liked it better when it was soggy---if I was making this just for myself, I'd pour the bag of cabbage into the pot to get it wilty, but the rest of the family prefers the crunch.
The Verdict.
We all really liked this meal. The kids ate a ton of the beef, and continued to eat cold pieces later in the night after dinner. This makes a lot of food--we've got about half leftover that I'm looking forward to eating for lunch during the holiday weekend. The meat reminded me A LOT of mu-shu beef---I'd imagine it would be delicious wrapped in the little pancakes with some plum sauce (although Adam quickly pointed out that I haven't had Mu-Shu anything for about 6 years, so I could be way off base. I still think it'd be good wrapped in those pancakes...).
The original name that Cooking Light gave the meat was Char Siu, which means barbecued meat (usually pork). The meat didn't taste like it had a barbecued flavor to me, but instead was slightly sweet and tangy. I'd love to throw in some hot peppers next time to give a bit of heat.
Thank you again, Christin, and to all who submitted recipes. I'm excited!
other great Asian-inspired meat dishes:
Korean Ribs
Mongolian Beef
Thai Curry
Lamb Vindaloo
Broccoli Beef
Peking Duck
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