Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork)
A jewel of Cantonese cuisine — pork neck marinated overnight in honey, soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin, and Chinese five-spice, then roasted until deeply caramelized with charred edges and a lacquered glaze. 'Char' means fork, 'Siu' means roast. Served with rice, noodles, or stuffed into steamed buns.
Ingredients
- 700 gpork neck or shoulder
- 2 tbsphoney
- 2 tbspsoy sauce
- 1 tbspoyster sauce
- 1 tbspChinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tbsphoisin sauce
- 1 tspsugar
- 1 tspsesame oil
- 1 tspChinese five-spice powder
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish
Method
- Cut pork along the grain into long strips 3–4 cm thick.
- Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl. Set aside about 4 tablespoons of the marinade in a separate container for basting later — it must never touch the raw meat. Marinate the pork in the remaining marinade in a bag or container for at least 8 hours, overnight is best.
- Preheat oven to 200°C (top-bottom heat or convection).
- Place the meat on a rack set over a tray of water. Roast for 25–30 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with the marinade reserved in step 2 (not the marinade the raw meat sat in).
- 5 minutes before the end, raise the temperature to 220°C to caramelize the glaze. The pork is done when the edges are deeply caramelized and a thermometer reads 63–68°C at the thickest part.
- Take the pork out and let it rest on a board for at least 3 minutes before cutting — at 63°C that rest is part of making it safe, and it also keeps the juices in. Then slice across the grain. Serve with rice or noodles, garnished with green onion.
FAQ
Char siu (叉烧) is Cantonese BBQ: pork neck marinated in honey, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and five-spice powder, then roasted until caramelized. 'Char' means fork, 'Siu' means roast. Traditionally the meat is hung on hooks in a furnace. Unlike battered, deep-fried dishes such as sweet and sour pork, char siu is roasted and gets its color from the marinade, not a coating. It is the backbone of Cantonese cuisine — served with rice, noodles, and stuffed into buns.
Five-spice (五香粉, wuxiangfen) is a blend of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. At home: toast the whole spices in a dry pan and grind in a coffee grinder. It is the essential spice of Cantonese and Shanghai cuisine used in marinades, braises, and sauces.
Restaurants use red food coloring or fermented red tofu (南乳) for the characteristic color. In a homemade version without coloring the meat will be dark brown from the caramelized honey and sauces — just as delicious in flavor.
Minimum 8 hours, overnight is best — the marinade needs time to penetrate deep. If short on time — cut the meat thinner (2 cm) and marinate 4 hours. You can speed things up by piercing the meat with a fork in several places before marinating.
Char siu is a versatile ingredient in Cantonese cooking. Classically with steamed rice or egg noodles. Used as filling in steamed or baked buns (char siu bao). Added to fried rice, wontons, and noodle soup. In Hong Kong it is an essential element of the iconic 'three treasures on rice' plate.
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Comments (1)
The pan needs to be properly hot before the pork neck goes in for char siu. A lukewarm pan steams instead of sears. Wait until you see the faintest wisp of smoke — that's your signal.