Bak kwa – Barbeque meat (no it is not Chinese New Year!)

Normally bak kwa or barbeque pork and chicken meats are associated with Chinese New Year. The phenomena only started like 10-12 years ago and unfortunately, it has become one of the most boring festive food. Give me bak kwa anytime, except Chinese New Year and I will appreciate it.

However, not many outlets can barbeque good bak kwa. I will stay away from most bak kwa stalls because they are either too sweet, too charred, too fatty or even worse, some can give you serious tummy aches.

The traditional way of making bak kwa is not that hygenic. I know because my two sisters-in-law used to barbeque them during Chinese New Year. Meat are minced and then, mixed with a mixture of Chinese red wine (can’t recall the name right now), fish sauce, salt and sugar. Then, they are rolled into thin layers of plastics to make them into slices. After that, the meats are dried under the sun (and subject to the elements, flies, ants, dusts etc eewwwss) before they are barbequed with charcoal fire.

However, now we have several branches of Beh Cheng Hiang which prepare their bak kwa in a much more cleaner way. (I suppose) I like my bak kwa freshly barbequed from their electric stoves and eat them while the meats are piping hot, in fact too hot to hold. 🙂

I am trying to get a few shots of those hawkers selling bak kwa roti but haven’t manage yet. The best bak kwa roti (bun with meat, meat floss and other types of meat) is found not very far from my home. Jalan Sekolah Lasalle hawker street, available for lunch and tea. Along Jalan Air Itam, across the State Mosque, turn in from the Buddhist Temple. If you visit, don’t forget to eat their ducks’ webs. Yummy!

Post Author: lilian

Used to be PenangFaces, now known as Food Haven, for all oink-oink foods

7 thoughts on “Bak kwa – Barbeque meat (no it is not Chinese New Year!)

    babe_kl

    (August 14, 2006 - 9:38 am)

    aisay i thot you made them hahaha was looking out for some tips :p

    QuaVadis

    (August 14, 2006 - 10:02 am)

    I somehow like the bak kua from Kiew (Kiu?) brothers, even though its commercial, its still one of the best I’ve tasted so far lah….

    the one made in kuching are basically like some form of hard tack jerkies….

    I do recalled that when i was younger..I love the burnt taste of it…ooh..the carcinogens hahahaha..I actually grilled it over an open stove to get more of the burnt taste hahaha

    shooi

    (August 14, 2006 - 1:20 pm)

    Usually i will buy only the Kiew Bro ones (& must be fr Petaling st, there some more :p). But maybe it’s time i give Beh Cheng Hiang a try for their piping hot “fresh” bak kwa. Mmmmm….

    pablopabla

    (August 14, 2006 - 1:54 pm)

    When in KL, try “Wing Heong” at Jln Imbi. You should see the queue which snakes its way to the main road before Chinese New Year. The other shops eg. Loong Kee, Kiew Bros, Beh Cheng Hiang etc. which are also located in Jln Imbi pales in comparison judging by the crowd.

    J

    (August 18, 2006 - 3:50 pm)

    Mmm… one of my favourite snacks when I was young was a bak kwa sandwich.
    (yum)

    Hmmm,… now that I think about it, I haven’t had one for so long!

    Joey

    (February 20, 2008 - 10:33 pm)

    I love Hock Seng Guan located at Petaling Street kompleks Selangor.. it has have branches at Taman Maluri and Kepong. It tasted very good and i love it so much since im young.

    Ronz

    (October 10, 2008 - 11:23 pm)

    anybody know the recipe of making the bak kwa? we should try ding it at home. maybe a more healthy type this time.. pleae let me know if u know the making of bak kwa!!

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