Bakkwa, also known as rougan, is a Chinese salty-sweet dried meat product similar to jerky. Bakkwa is made with a meat preservation and preparation technique originating from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The general method of production has remained virtually unchanged throughout the centuries, but the techniques have been gradually improved. It is traditionally made of

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

, or

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

, which is prepared with spices, sugar, salt and soy sauce, then dried on racks at around to a final

water activity Water activity (''aw'') is the partial vapor pressure of water in a solution divided by the standard state partial vapor pressure of water. In the field of food science, the standard state is most often defined as pure water at the same tempe ...

between 0.60 and 0.69. Nowadays, products with a softer texture, lighter color and less sugar are preferred. The type of bakkwa products has a higher water content, and thus has a softer texture and lower sugar content. Whereas the traditional bakkwa has a

below 0.7, bakkwa tends to be closer to a water activity of about 0.79. Nevertheless, can have a similar shelf life to other types of bakkwa. Bakkwa is very popular in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

where it is traditionally eaten during the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

. When Chinese immigrants brought this delicacy over to Singapore and Malaysia, it began to take on local characteristics. A notable example lies in the preparation of bakkwa, where the meat is grilled over charcoal rather than air-dried, imparting a smokier flavor to the meat. The Singaporean and Malaysian versions of bakkwa are also sweeter than their mainland China counterparts with many different variations having developed to suit local palates, such as chili bakkwa. File:歐~肉乾!.jpg, Different kinds of bakkwa on display, Hong Kong File:Bakkwa at a Bee Cheng Hiang store, Singapore - 20040111.jpg, Bakkwa at a Bee Cheng Hiang shop in Singapore

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{{Portal bar, Food, Asia Chinese New Year foods Dried meat Hong Kong cuisine Indonesian cuisine Macau cuisine Malaysian cuisine Singaporean cuisine Taiwanese cuisine Chinese meat dishes

See also

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