Baked Chinese Barbecue Pork Recipe (Char Siu): Bring the Restaurant Home | Pork | 30Seconds Food (2024)

Char siu (叉烧), or Chinese barbecue pork, is a type of Cantonese roast meat. Char siu is its Cantonese name, while in Mandarin it is known as cha shao. The literal translation is "fork roast" referring to the traditional method of cooking this dish: seasoning pork strips and roasting them over a fire or in a covered oven. Some consider this recipe "Chinese restaurant-style pork."

My husband is a passionate carnivore and enjoys cooking pork, so this char siu recipe is more his than mine (note that while char siu is traditionally grilled, this is a recipe for the oven). He loves the marinade and the juicy, tender pork. According to him, while you could use different cuts of pork to make char siu, it’s ideal to use boneless pork shoulder.

This pork recipe isn’t difficult to make but it does require time and patience; a slower, longer cook time makes the meat juicy, which results in fantastic caramelization. Perfect! Thebarbecue porkis marinated and brushed with a Chinese barbecue sauce, then roasted until a deep, restaurant-quality flavor is reached. My husband recommends serving char siu with rice or noodles.

Note: Traditional char siu gets its authentic red color from an ingredient called fermented red bean curds, which can be hard to find. If the color is important to you, you can use red food coloring. I personally don’t ever add any; it doesn’t impact the flavor, so I’m not worried about it. You could serve it for dinner with this homemade char siu sauce.

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Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 10 minutes plus 1 to 2 days to marinate
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours
Total Time: 1 1/2 hours plus marinating time
Serves 6

Ingredients

Pork

  • 1 pork shoulder (2 to 3 pounds)
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Marinade

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Recipe Notes

  • If you have leftovers, use the pork shoulder in pork fried rice or add it to stir fry.

Here's how to make it:

  1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a plastic zipper food storage bag or shallow bowl. Add the pork and marinate 24 to 48 hours, or 3 hours minimum.
  2. Remove the pork from the marinade and put onto a foil-lined baking sheet. (Save the marinade!) Roast in a preheated 325-degree F oven for about 30 minutes.
  3. While the pork cooks, pour the reserved marinade into a saucepan. Add the 2 tablespoons of honey. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until it reaches a syrup consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
  4. Remove the pork from the oven and brush it on both sideswith the marinade. Cook another 30 minutes. Remove the pork again and brush it all over with the marinade. Continue to cook about 20 minutes. (If the pork is getting to dark, cover it with foil.) Brush the pork one more time and cook for about 10 more minutes or until caramelized and sticky. (Meat should be fork-tender.) Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Drizzle with any remaining marinade.

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Baked Chinese Barbecue Pork Recipe (Char Siu): Bring the Restaurant Home | Pork | 30Seconds Food (2024)

FAQs

Is char siu pork the same as BBQ pork? ›

Sticky, crimson red Char Siu Pork – just like you get from the Chinese Barbecue meat shops! Also called Chinese BBQ Pork, it's finger licking good and you're going to be shocked how easy it is to make the Char Siu sauce that's used to marinade the pork.

What is the best cut of meat for char siu? ›

What are the best cuts of pork for char siu? My dad uses pork butt, also known as "Boston butt” or "pork shoulder,” and this seems to be among the most popular cuts for char siu. It's ideal to use more fatty cuts, so some other options would be the pork neck end or pork belly.

How do Chinese restaurants get the pork red? ›

The red hue on the pork comes from the sticky, crave-able barbecue sauce in which it's marinaded before roasting. Often, this deep crimson hue comes from a combination of Hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, and fermented red bean curd (aka fermented tofu, bean cheese, or tofu cheese).

What does Siu mean in Chinese food? ›

Cantonese cuisine

Char siu literally means "fork roasted" (siu being burn/roast and cha being fork, both noun and verb) after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire.

What is the main ingredient of char siu? ›

Char siu is Chinese restaurant-style pork with a deep red, sweet and sticky coating. Char siu literally means "fork roast" and refers to the traditional method of cooking this dish by which strips of seasoned pork were skewered with long forks and roasted in a covered oven or over a fire.

What does char siu mean in english? ›

char siu (uncountable) A style of preparation of barbecued pork in Cantonese cuisine, typically using honey and spices. [ from 20th c.]

What do Chinese use to make meat tender? ›

While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.

What is the most popular meat in Chinese food? ›

Pork dominates the meat menu in China. The 57 million tons of pork consumed in China in 2021 accounted for 60 percent of total meat consumption.

What is the red stuff in Chinese food? ›

Soy sauce (usually a mix of light and dark soy sauce), fermented bean paste, red fermented tofu or rock sugar is commonly used to both flavor and impart a reddish brown hue to the items being cooked. Food coloring is sometimes added for a more intense red coloration.

Why is Chinese BBQ pork pink? ›

If it's ground pork, it might be as the result of using/adding minced ginger and the resulting interaction with pork tends to make it a slightly pink hue. If it's traditional char siu(BBQ Chinese roasted pork), it's the combination of seasonings and spices (hoisin sauce, honey, five spice powder and red food dye).

What is the red dot in pork? ›

The haemorrhage may result from rupture of blood vessels - usually very small ones (capillaries) - or sometimes from leakage of red blood cells through small holes in imperfect blood vessels. In fresh meat the haemorrhages appear as dark red spots, usually not more than 1 cm in diameter.

Is char siu Japanese or Chinese? ›

One of the most famous Chinese meat preparations, char siu is Cantonese barbecue pork. Naturally, that makes it especially popular in the Cantonese parts of southern China, as well as popular in local adaptations throughout much of Southeast Asia.

What is another word for char siu? ›

Char siu, called yakibuta in Japanese (in Japan it's called by both names チャーシュー or 焼豚)is used in many everyday dishes. It is very rich, so it's usually used in small quantities, not eaten as a hunk o' meat. Here are just a few ways you can use it: top off a bowl of ramen with one or two thin slices.

What is the difference between pork and char siu? ›

Pork is literally just “the meat of a pig” in the most general sense. Char siu is the anglicized rendering of the name of a Cantonese style of roasted pork (usually belly, back, loin, or neck), flavored with Chinese 5 spice and glazed with honey and red rice yeast that produces a rich, red color.

Is char siu the same as BBQ sauce? ›

Char siu doesn't refer to a sauce particularly, but the final product after this "Chinese barbecue sauce" is applied to pork that is hung onto fork skewers and roasted.

What cut of pork is BBQ pork? ›

Pork butt is an ideal choice for barbecue pulled pork, but it also lends itself to braising and stewing, which tenderizes the meat and melts the fat. Use pork butt in any recipe where you're looking for fall-apart-tender meat and a rich, porky flavor, such as pulled pork, carnitas or stew.

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