Molly Yeh's Sticky, Sweet & Savory Char Siu Meatball Sliders

For a meaty main that is sure to bring joy and prosperity to all of our tummies, I'm making my char siu meatball sliders that are juicy and saucy and they've got all of the sweet salty flavors of Chinese style barbecue in handheld meatball sandwich form. I'm starting with 12 ounces each of ground pork and ground beef. The combination gives you great flavor and a good level of fattiness and I'll season with a teaspoon of kosher salt, one and a half teaspoons of Chinese five spice which is a combination of spices that are enchanting. It's got cloves, anise, Sichuan peppercorn, fennel, and cinnamon and it brings in such beautiful warmth to the meat. Two tablespoons of ketchup. Add ketchup to anything and I'll eat it. Scallions, garlic, and ginger. The trifecta of flavor in Chinese cooking. I love ginger so much. And then use a fine zester to grate it right in. This is starting to smell so good. An egg and some panko will help bind the meatballs together. Two tablespoons of hoisin sauce which is sweet and caramely. It's also pretty salty too. Two tablespoons of soy sauce and then two teaspoons of toasted sesame oil. There is so much flavor in this bowl. All right so I'll just get in here and mix this up with my hands. Char siu is a style of Chinese barbecue that is so delicious. It's sweet, it's salty, it's a little bit red, and I grew up eating char siu pork and char siu chicken in steamed buns. And typically it's made with straight up pieces of pork but I'm doing a meatball version because it's super easy to come together and also my kids love to eat meatballs. All right I'll roll this into 12 balls slightly bigger than a golf ball and place it onto my baking sheet and then bake them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until they're cooked through. And in the meantime I'll whip up my sweet glaze. This glaze is sweet and sticky and owed to both my love of ketchup and Chinese heritage. I'll start with two tablespoons of ketchup and combine with two tablespoons of hoisin. This is mostly ingredients that are in the balls as well so this just accentuates those flavors. A tablespoon of honey to bring in the sweetness which will caramelize on the outside of the balls and make them shiny. A tablespoon of rice vinegar for some bright acidity and then a teaspoon each of Chinese five spice and toasted sesame oil. We'll whisk this together. All right let me get the balls out of the oven. They look so good already but they're just about to get better with a thick coating of this sauce. I'll brush it on lavishly. My cousins Chyna and Bud are visiting with their partners and I have so many great memories growing up and visiting them in LA. We would always go for Chinese food. I think they're gonna dig these balls. Okay I'll stick these back in the oven now to broil for one to two minutes until they're shiny and caramelized and then I'll grab the rest of my fixins and assemble the sliders. Oh yeah those are baller. To assemble I've toasted my buns which helps prevent against soggy buns. I'll add a squiggle of sriracha mayo for some nice creaminess and heat. Some slaw. This is just shredded cabbage and carrots tossed with a little lime juice and salt. I love the cooling crunch that it adds. The bowls. They're so caramelized and beautiful. And lastly some cilantro. Oh for cute. It smells too good. I'm diving in. It's sweet. It's sticky. I don't know how these little balls have so much flavor. That is one stupendous slider. For an extra special appetizer I'm making soy sauce deviled eggs which are creamy and salty and they have a beautiful muted shade of brown around the edges. I'll just marinate my eggs, make the filling, and boom shovel them all into my mouth. You're gonna have to fight me for these. I'm starting with 10 hard-boiled eggs here that I've peeled and now I'll marinate them. So I'll combine four cups of water with a cup of soy sauce. Eggs obviously always need salt no matter what form it comes in and this is such a great way to get an even amount of saltiness that just absorbs into the egg white. These are completely addictive. Two whole star anise pods will infuse the marinade with that unique licorice flavor. Three tablespoons of dark brown sugar balances out the saltiness and the sweet salty combo is what's going to keep me going back for more of these. A couple slices of ginger and I didn't even peel it since it's just infusing and two cloves of garlic and I'll just heat this up and whisk it. I'm only looking to dissolve the sugar. These soy sauce eggs are one of my dad's favorite foods. We always add hard-boiled eggs to their braising liquid when we make my grandma's braised pork shoulder. There are very similar ingredients here. They're so flavorful. I just love them so much and they're gonna be even better when I mash their yolks with a ton of mayo. Sugar is dissolved. I'll pour this right over my eggs. I can smell the anise. I'll refrigerate this for four hours so the eggs can soak up all that delicious flavor and beautiful color. Taupe eggs here I come. This filling holds the key to my heart. Mayonnaise. I'm using Japanese mayo which is rich and a little bit sweet. I'll use half a cup. A teaspoon of hot Chinese mustard for that zing that every deviled egg need. Some salt and two teaspoons of grated ginger and then a little bit of rice vinegar to brighten it up. Of course I also need my egg yolks. I'm so excited to cut them open and just fish them out. Oh yeah look at that beautiful color. I'll blot them off and then slice in half. I'm excited about this reveal. Oh yeah that's what I'm talking about. I love seeing those layers. So I'll pop out the egg yolks right into the bowl with the filling and actually marinating them in the soy sauce mixture draws some of the moisture out of the egg white so it firms it up a bit and it actually makes the egg yolks easier to pop out. What I love about deviled eggs, they look cute. They're a great party snack. They're kind of like handheld little egg salad bites. I'll just use a fork to mash this up until it's creamy. My cousin Bud who's visiting me, he's getting married next year to his fiancée Melanie. They've actually been together for a really long time and I'm so excited for their wedding. I'll be in California. Give me an excuse to go to California. And Chyna is bringing her partner as well who I've never met before, Adrian. So I can't wait to meet him and I think we're gonna have a really good time. Okay egg yolks are mashed. The easiest way to fill deviled eggs is to use a piping bag or you can also use a plastic bag with the corners snipped off. Pour this right in. Okay filling's ready and now a total kitchen necessity is a platter with individual special divots for deviled eggs. I'll nestle these into the divots. I'll fill them up. Frosting a cupcake. A couple of drizzles of sriracha for heat and to incorporate more red. Some scallions and lastly some toasted sesame seeds. I would invite anybody to my potluck if they committed to bringing these. Oh my goodness so adorbs. I'm so glad there are extras that don't fit on the plate because guess what I'm gonna do right now. It is actually mind-boggling how much flavor is in one little half of an egg. These are devilishly good.