Recipe: Cantonese Roast Pork (Char Siu)
Along with wonton noodle soup, char siu is the Cantonese people's greatest contribution to mankind. Really, who can resist slices of half-fatty, half-lean roast pork, crisp and dripping with caramelized juices?
You know those enticing pieces of pork dangling in Chinatown restaurant windows? When you get char siu at a Cantonese restaurant, it will most likely be red from a little food dye, to attract customers. A small amount of dye isn't harmful (think of all those M&Ms and Skittles you've eaten). But sometimes a restaurant will go overboard. My mother still has nightmares of glowing magenta char siu from Boston's Chinatown.
The solution, if you want to avoid unnatural coloring altogether, is to make char siu at home. Char siu is often translated as Chinese barbecue pork, but these days hardly anyone skewers the pork and cooks it over an open fire. Rather, the name has stuck because the outside of char siu is blackened from roasting.
My method for making char siu is very easy, and still produces very succulent and drool-worthy meat. Rather than food coloring, you can get good color (not ghastly color) from a dark soy sauce, a little hoisin sauce, and honey. The key is marinating the meat for 2 to 3 hours to allow the flavors to seep in, and roasting the pork belly whole. Lean pork doesn't work as well, because the fat keeps the insides moist.
You can serve this as-is, as part of a multi-course meal, or add them to noodle soup with shiitakes and Chinese greens. Or make char siu bau (roast pork buns.)
Have you ever made char siu or other Cantonese roast meats at home?
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More Chinese recipes with pork:
Red-Cooked Pork (Hongshao rou)
Clay Pot Rice with Cantonese Sausage
Wonton Noodle Soup, Hong Kong-Style
Dan Dan Mian (Spicy Sichuan Noodles)
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Cantonese Roast Pork (Char Siu)
Serves 4
1 1/2 pounds pork belly, unsliced
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon 5-spice powder
2 tablespoons honey
In a large bowl, mix together rice wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, garlic, hoisin sauce, and 5-spice powder. Rub pork belly with marinade mixture and marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 325° F. Rub excess marinade off pork belly (but don't rub it all off!) and place in a roasting pan. Roast pork for 40 to 45 minutes, flipping the pork belly over after 20 minutes and brushing honey on the surface. The pork is done when the outsides begin to crisp and blacken, and center of the pork belly strip feels as firm as a tight fist.
Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice roast pork into thin pieces. Serve with rice or noodles.
omg
Will you marry me?
I've made wontons at home,
I've made wontons at home, but never Chinese roasts. Will definitely try this. Thanks!
perfect
I love char siu! Yours looks perfect - with fatty bits and charred bits =)
Looks better than the ones from the restaurant!
Granted I live in Dallas, but those pictures make me want to try making them myself. My wife doesn't like char sui from the restaurant, I think because of a bad experience once, but I wonder if she'll like these. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for the
Thank you so much for the recipe! My husband is Chinese from Hawaii, and he misses his char siu!
uhmmmmm.....
YUM! that is all.
Lop Yok
I think a nice follow up to this post would be something about lop yok.
Mmmm YUM!
Oooh I have all those ingredients in my store cupboard - only thing I would need to buy is the pork!.....Guess what I'm making tonight then?!
Lovely recipe thanks for sharing.
It looks incredible! Can't
It looks incredible! Can't decide which looks better - the pork or your photo of it.
Can't wait to try this! Thank you for sharing your recipe. 'o}
Delicious
I've put putting this off for so long and definitely have to try a home-made char siew.
glowing magenta char siu
I laughed when I read "glowing magenta char siu". I have never had "glowing magenta char siu" but once had a luminous yellow curry at uni. Who knows what they put in it.....
My recipe is very similar to yours but I tend to use pork shoulder to make cha siu as it's normally more tender and less fat. I prick the pork before soaking it in the marinade overnight so it takes in all the flavours.
Sammi - If I can't find pork
Sammi - If I can't find pork belly I'll use pork shoulder, but I guess I'm just addicted to the fatty bits. :)
Looks wonderful--thank you!
Looks wonderful--thank you!
Mmmm...I Want to try this!
Thanks for the recipe, now I can try this at home!!
Now if only I could find directions and tips for fire roasted pork (fo yuk). Boyfriend loves that.
siu yoke recipe?
just got back from HK...char siu was definitely consumed as well as another personal fav - lap mei fan. Any recipes for siu yoke? I hope you can cover this in a future post...
That pork looks really
That pork looks really tasty!
Char siu timings
Are you sure of timings? 40 -45 minutes at 325 sounds really quick.
I used 2.67 pounds of pork
I used 2.67 pounds of pork shoulder. I put it in for around an hour and ten minutes and it turned out really well.
Your roasted pork looks
Your roasted pork looks gorgeous - I'm convinced and will try it. Thank you so much for sharing.
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Wow, it looks sooo cool!!Do
Wow, it looks sooo cool!!Do you have any hi res pictures maybe? Can you put them on rapidshare maybe?
Yum!
Wow! That looks awesome!
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