Before the pandemic hit, 46-year-old Patric Low was sales manager of a construction material supplier, drawing a salary of about $5,000 a month. He tells 8days.sg that when he lost his job in May due to the ensuing economic downturn, he turned to his hobby as a means to support his family of three (his wife works in sales and they have a 13-year-old child) — selling char siew via his new home-based biz, Burrppp. The avid home cook has been experimenting with char siew recipes ever since he had a taste of succulent KL-style char siew about five years ago. “Before then, my impression of char siew was that it’s dry, and I never went out of my way to order it,” he recalls. Since that revelation, the weekend chef has tried out countless recipes, with the goal of creating the perfect char siew. His friends and family have been the beneficiaries of his tests — and often request for his char siew during gatherings. “I always worry that people will get sick of my char siew, but they keep asking for more!” shares Patric.

Burrppp was officially launched in mid-June 2020, selling just char siew rice bowls and whole char siew pieces. Having no friends or family in the F&B business meant Patric had nobody to turn to for advice, and he confesses that he was at a bit of a loss in the beginning. “When we first started, only friends and family ordered from us. Thankfully, we see the demand increasing day by day, and the positive reviews have been very encouraging,” he shares. Demand is still erratic though, with about 100 orders on good days, and just 10 on others.

A passionate foodie who used to travel across the island on public transport with his wife during their dating days to try out eateries, Patric shares that he has gone around Singapore to taste many of the well-known char siew places, but did not find one that he felt was perfect. “I don’t like it when it’s too sweet — the kind that's almost gummy and sticks to your teeth,” says Patric. “Some people also rave about certain cuts like the bujiantian (literally translated to mean “never sees the sky” in mandarin, a layered cut between the pig shoulder and belly), which I find is too fatty.” The char siew Patric makes stands firmly in the middle ground: sweet, but not cloying; superbly tender, but with just a modest layer of fat. “The idea is to make something that people can keep eating without getting jelak,” he says.

The recipe that Patric uses is an amalgamation of the different internet recipes he has tried out. There are no special ingredients needed, he says. “Just things like soy sauce and honey… nothing somebody who cooks wouldn’t already have.” Cooking from his HDB flat in Tampines, he roasts his char siew in a counter-top oven. He has a larger built-in oven but finds that the results are best in this smaller one. His wife Angie laughingly says that the difference is discernible only to Patric, but he sticks to his ways: “because whatever I serve has to pass my own taste-test”.

There is only one “secret” to Patric’s char siew: the cut he uses. He was introduced to it while consulting his neighbourhood butcher on the different cuts to try out for char siew. “It’s a premium cut that is not displayed, and in short supply” says Patric. He doesn’t wish to name it, but shares that it’s from the upper torso of the pig and each animal yields just two fillets of the cut. This is why he requires his customers to place their orders two days in advance so he can pre-order the special cut of Indonesian pork from his butcher. “I don’t want to order a lot and freeze the meat. It would save us a lot of time, but I tried using frozen pork and it didn’t taste as good, so I only buy and marinate to order,” says Patric.

There are two delivery windows for each day's orders, and Patric takes the effort to make two batches. “Of course life will be a lot easier if I just cook the day’s orders in a single batch, but I want my customers to enjoy the char siew at its freshest,” says Patric. To fulfil his lunch time orders that go out at around 11am, he wakes up at 6am to start cooking. “There’s quite a lot of work as you have to repeatedly brush the char siew while it is roasting in the oven. It’s really time-consuming,” says Patric. It is hard work, for sure, and Patric admits that he would still want to look for a job in the construction industry. “If I manage to (find a job), I would still love take char siew orders for weekend,” he says.

The char siew remains the highlight, of course, with its just-sweet-enough marinade, moderate fattiness and super soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture. But our grouse is that the slices are too thin, thicker ones (we don’t mind paying a bit more) would allow us to fully appreciate the tenderness of the cut.

Our editor recommends ordering these whole chunks instead (which look more like smallish steak cuts than the usual char siew strips) — they boast a superior mouthfeel and retain their juices better than the thin slices in the dons. She found that roasting them briefly in the oven at a higher temp than what’s suggested in the reheating instructions made them even yummier — it created a more caramelised, slightly crisp crust and rendered some of the fat out, which contrasted with the soft, unctuous meat better. You can then slice them into thicker chunks before enjoying them. It’s a bit of a shame that the Japanese rice and onsen egg used for the rice bowls cannot be ordered on the side along with the whole char siew pieces.

Melt-in-the-mouth, flavourful char siew with a marinade that reminds us of an elegant version of the zi char pork rib dish, pai gu wang. Our suggestion: order the yummier whole chunks of meat instead of the sliced ones, and give it a quick roast in the oven so it achieves a smokier, more caramelised crust.

Photos: Burrppp, Koh Yuen Lin & Florence Fong