Is your S: 叉烧; T: 叉燒 (chā shāo) underperforming or too sweet? Not getting the glaze you prefer on your S: 北京烤鸭; T; 北京烤鴨 (běi jīng kǎo yā)?
What you need is the not-so-secret ingredient S: 麦芽糖; T: 麥芽糖 (mài yá táng).
S: 叉烧; T: 叉燒 (chā shāo), literally 'fork roast', is the Mandarin for what most know by the Cantonese name char siu.
S: 北京烤鸭; T; 北京烤鴨 (běi jīng kǎo yā) is, of course, Beijing Duck.
And the 'secret ingredient' S: 麦芽糖; T: 麥芽糖 (mài yá táng) is maltose.
Image from Meituan online shopping app
Maltose, my dictionary tells me, is a disaccaride formed when starch is broken down by enzyme action.
Maltose, my kitchen tells me, is that jar of incredibly sticky stuff I bought in the supermarket.
Almost solid at room temperature, maltose is about one-third as sweet as sucrose (regular sugar) but up to ten times stickier. Due to its viscosity, it sticks better to the meat than the usual substitute, honey and also tastes less sweet, a good thing in my view.
This maltose is made from rice and its thick sticky consistency makes it almost impossible to spoon out of the jar or brush onto your meat. However, it is the traditional ingredient used to get the perfect glaze.
The trick is to microwave the stuff for around 20 to 30 seconds to 'melt' the top enough to get the stuff out. BE CAREFUL! Like all sugars, it gets very hot and retains its heat longer than one might expect. Working with maltose is one of only two occasions I wear gloves in the kitchen. Also, coating your spoon with a little cooking oil helps with getting the stuff off the spoon and into a bowl.
Maltose is available from Amazon, but probably considerably cheaper in Asian markets, should you have access to such a thing.
