Chinese pork jerky: what makes them so tender, how do you make it?

Question

If you've ever had Chinese beef or pork jerky, you'll know why I'm asking this question. If you have a Chinatown in your city, I'm sure you'll be able to find a market that sells them in vacuum sealed plastic packages. If you're lucky enough to have an actual beef/pork jerky store that's even better! We have one in the Chinatown in New York City.

I want to know how to make the pork jerky. What makes them so tender and soft? I've never had any other kind of jerky that has this texture. Most jerky is very chewy. Maybe it's due the high fat content of the meat. Maybe they don't dry it out as much.

Here are some images on Google. It's probably hard to tell from the photos but the jerky is a bit translucent. I wonder if it they grind up pork and fat together.

Answer 1

I just found the recipe for it. The name of it is Bak Kwa (Sweet BBQ Pork Jerky). Here's the wikipedia entry (boy it's easy to find things when you know the name!). The recipe actually grind up the pork. They use about 70% meat and 30% fat. But according to the wikipedia entry there is also an expensive version where they slice of a solid piece of meat.

Sugar and salt was originally used and then the meat was smoked (this sounds really close to BBQing, which generally cooks the meat with smoke...yummy tender ribs).

These days, people make them in the oven at low heat. In the recipe, they put the minced mixture between two sheets of parchment paper, which probably keeps it moist and tender!