Char Siu is a Cantonese dish of barbecued pork in a sweet and savory marinade. The key ingredient is hoisin sauce, a popular local condiment made from fermented soybean paste. It has a similar flavour profile to that of barbecue sauce but with more prominent notes of salt and umami. First, the pork spends a decent amount of time marinating and is then barbecued or roasted. The sauce caramelizes during cooking, creating a thick, delicious, sticky glaze. In this easy Chinese BBQ pork recipe I will show you how to make a restaurant-quality char siu at home with minimal effort and only five ingredients 😀
The Flavour Affair:
Pork + Hoisin Sauce + Soy Sauce + Honey + Sherry + Chinese Five Spice
Pork: most of the sources I’ve studied suggest using fatty cuts. The fat renders off during cooking, keeping the meat tender and adding a lot of flavour. While pork neck or shoulder seem to be the most popular choice, upon some deliberation I decided to go for skinless pork belly. First, the pieces are smaller hence quicker to marinate. Likewise, it cooks faster. Second, the outer bits of fat caramelize and become crispy (think of fried bacon). Third, there is a lot of lean meat in between the strips of fat that comes out very tender.
Hoisin Sauce: you can easily find hoisin sauce in the international section of most grocery stores.
Soy Sauce: use any soy sauce you have. There are recipes that insist on one type over the other, but personally I think that with so much taste coming from hoisin, it is extremely hard for a non-Asian palate to tell the difference in nuances of soy sauce. I mean, really. Just be aware that regular soy sauce is often more salty, so if you are using light you may need to adjust the quantity upwards.
Honey: although I don’t like to use honey in recipes that require heating it, here I decided to give it a go. I had raw honey which is moderately sweet.
Sherry: the acid from wine adds tangy notes to the sauce. You will find recipes calling for Shaoxing wine, sherry, sometimes even red wine. In absence of Shaoxing, I figured dry sherry would be a good choice, with its rich and robust flavour, fragrant aroma, nuttiness and delicate sweetness.
Chinese Five Spice: adds the element of heat from peppercorns and a distinctive Chinese feel with its aniseedy sweetness.
Preparation Tips for Chinese BBQ Pork:
- Use a cut of meat with a decent amount of fat in it. The fat will dissolve during cooking, resulting in succulent meat with crispy charred edges. I loved how pork belly turned out in this recipe. If you are using pork neck or shoulder, cut them into strips before marinating.
- Marinate the pork for at least 8 hours or overnight. Yep, even if you are cooking thinner strips of pork belly. For bigger parts, marinate for 24 hours.
- Traditional char siu has a red color because of fermented bean curd. If you, like me, don’t have any – feel free to use a drop of red food coloring.
- Shake off and reserve the excess marinate for later use.
- Roast the meat on a rack with a tray underneath and fill the tray with water. First, the steam will help the meat moisten. Second, it will prevent the drippings from burning.
- Most of the recipes I studied suggest 2-3 bastings during roasting. That was a bit too much hassle for me. After I took the two heavy trays out the first time (the rack plus the tray with water), with hot steam blowing into my face and nearly spilling the greasy water, I knew I was done. I let the pork belly cook through, brought the remaining marinade to simmer in a pan, allowed it to thicken, added the meat and tossed it around to coat. Then filled the gaps using a silicone brush. It seemed to work perfectly well!
The outcome was really delicious. The meat was tender. The small bits of fat were super flavourful. The sauce turned into a thick, lick-your-fingers glaze. As I type, a bunch of pork ribs are sitting in the fridge in the same char siu marinade. I will let you know how those turn out!
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Easy Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)
Equipment
- 1 medium pan
- 1 oven rack
- 1 Roasting tray
- 1 Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg skinless pork belly
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce see notes
- 2 tbsp dry sherry
- 1.5 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp dry sherry wine, 1.5 tbsp honey and 2 tsp Chinese five spice powder.
- Place pork belly into a large zip lock bag.
- Pour over the marinade, toss to coat, seal and refrigerate for minimum 8 hours.
- Take out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Shake off the excess marinade and reserve the rest.
- Preheat the oven to 190C.
- Fill the roasting tray with water up to 1/2.
- Place the rack over the tray and arrange the pork belly on top.
- Roast in the oven for 40 minutes.
- When ready to serve, heat the reserved marinade in a medium pan. Simmer for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Add the pieces of meat and move around to coat with the sticky glaze. Use a silicon brush to fill in the gaps.
- Serve warm with sauteed greens and/or white rice.
Notes
- If using light soy sauce, you may need to increase the quantities to 3 tbsp. Make sure to taste and adjust to your preference.
