Mahogany-lacquered Cantonese roast pork — sweet, smoky, faintly five-spiced strips of pork shoulder caramelized over high heat.
Char siu — literally 'fork-roast' in Cantonese — is the crimson-glazed roast pork hanging in every siu mei window from Hong Kong to Vancouver to San Francisco's Chinatown. The cut of choice is pork shoulder or collar (mui tau), prized for its marbling: the streaks of fat baste the meat from inside as it roasts and char on the surface in glossy, sticky strips. The marinade is the soul of the dish — a balance of light and dark soy, hoisin, fermented red bean curd, Shaoxing wine, sugar, honey and five-spice, with a touch of maltose for that signature lacquered shine. Traditionally the pork is hooked vertically inside cylindrical char-siu ovens and roasted at fierce heat, the drippings caught in pans below; at home a high oven with a water bath underneath does the same job. The pork should emerge with sharply defined char (the literal meaning of 'siu' includes 'to burn'), edges blackened slightly, interior juicy and tinted ruby-pink from the marinade. Eat slices straight off the chopping block, fold into bao, layer over rice with pickled cucumbers, or dice it into Yangzhou fried rice. It is the most-loved meat in Cantonese cooking for good reason: every bite is sweet, savory, smoky, and sticky at once.
Serves 6
Slice the shoulder into long strips roughly 5 cm thick along the grain — this lets the marinade penetrate and gives you classic char siu shapes. Pierce all over with a fork; the holes draw the marinade deeper and shorten the brining time.
In a bowl whisk hoisin, both soys, Shaoxing, mashed red bean curd with brine, honey, five-spice and garlic until uniform. Reserve 4 tablespoons of marinade in a separate bowl for the final glaze — never re-use marinade that has touched raw meat.
Coat the pork strips thoroughly with the working marinade. Refrigerate covered for a minimum of 8 hours, ideally 24, turning once at the halfway point. Long marination is what gives proper char siu its deep ruby color throughout, not just on the surface.
Vacuum-sealing the pork with marinade cuts the time in half and intensifies penetration.
Heat the oven to 230°C / 450°F with a rack in the upper third. Place a roasting tray with 2 cm of water on the bottom shelf — this catches drips, prevents smoke, and keeps humidity high so the meat doesn't dry out.
Lay pork strips on a wire rack over the water tray, leaving space between them. Roast 15 minutes uncovered until the edges begin to char and the surface dries. The fierce initial heat sets that classic siu mei shop crust.
Lower oven to 200°C / 400°F. Mix the reserved marinade with the extra 2 tbsp honey and the maltose. Brush the pork generously, flip, roast another 12 minutes. Repeat the glaze-flip-roast cycle one more time. By the end the strips should be deep mahogany with blackened sticky edges.
Pull from the oven and rest 10 minutes — char siu carries on cooking and the juices redistribute. Slice across the grain into 1 cm pieces. The interior should be moist with a thin pink edge; if you want it more well-done, give it 3 extra minutes of glaze-roast.
Pork collar (sometimes labeled 'pork neck' or 'pork scotch') is the prized cut for char siu — it's marbled like wagyu and stays juicy through the high-heat roast.
If your sauce won't glaze evenly, your oven is too low. Char siu needs sustained 200°C+ for the sugars to caramelize into the lacquered surface — don't time-cheat with a low slow roast.
Skip the red food coloring sometimes called for in shop char siu. Fermented red bean curd gives an authentic, more subtle ruby tone without the artificial taste.
Always rest the pork before slicing or you'll lose the juices to the cutting board, leaving you with dry meat and a wet bench.
Char siu bao — dice the cooled pork, mix with hoisin and a quick cornstarch slurry, and stuff into steamed bao buns.
Char siu fried rice — small dice tossed at the end of high-heat fried rice with scallion and egg.
Honey-mustard variation — swap half the hoisin for Dijon mustard for a Hong Kong–Western fusion style popular at cha chaan teng.
Char siu on rice (char siu fan) — slice over jasmine rice with blanched gai lan and a fried egg.
Refrigerate sliced or whole char siu up to 4 days in a sealed container. Freezes well up to 2 months, wrapped tightly in foil then a freezer bag. Reheat covered at 160°C / 325°F with a splash of water until just warmed — never microwave high, which dries out the lean fibers.
Char siu evolved in Guangdong province from older Cantonese roasting traditions and was refined in the siu mei (barbecue) restaurants of late-Qing Guangzhou and early-20th-century Hong Kong. The signature red color originally came from red yeast rice and fermented bean curd; the bright artificial red familiar from Western Chinatown shop windows is a 20th-century shortcut.
Yes — on a covered gas grill with indirect heat at around 200°C, or on a charcoal grill with coals banked to one side. Glazing technique is identical.
Probably not enough dark soy or red bean curd, or you skipped the maltose. Dark soy supplies color; maltose supplies the lacquered shine. Both matter.
Yes, as long as internal temperature reached 63°C / 145°F. The pink tinge in properly cooked char siu is from the marinade, not undercooking — same way a smoked brisket shows a pink smoke ring.
Yes — chicken thigh works beautifully (cut cook time to about 25 minutes); firm tofu pressed then marinated 4 hours gives an excellent vegan version. Same marinade, same glazing method.
Per serving (220g) · 6 servings total
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