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Authentic Char Siu Recipe: Make Delicious BBQ Pork at Home

Whenever I travel around the world, if I’m anywhere near their local Chinatown, I will head straight to the window with the barbecued pork, ducks and geese hanging on hooks in the window, and I go inside and order myself some of the pork and then eat it as I walked around the city. It’s the perfect walking food. 
Many recipes call for red food coloring to achieve the traditional appearance. I leave it out. It adds nothing beyond color, and the rich flavor of properly marinated and roasted pork speaks for itself. But as always, your kitchen, your rules.
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Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings: 32
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder/pork butt select a piece with some good fat on it
  • 1/2 cup granulated White Sugar or pure Cane Sugar
  • 4 teaspoons Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Five Spice Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon White Pepper ground.
  • 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
  • 2 tablespoon Shaoxing Rice Wine
  • 2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
  • 2 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce
  • 4 teaspoons Molasses
  • 4 cloves Garlic crushed
2 tablespoons Honey, add to leftover marinade and into fridge for final basting.

Equipment

  • Pyrex Baking Dish
  • Half Sheet Pan

Method
 

  1. Cut the pork into manageable lengthwise strips. A 4 lb roast should give you four good strips. Put into a baking dish and pour marinade on and give it at least 24 hours in the refrigerator.
  2. Preheat your oven to 475F. Use a half baking sheet with a mesh insert to keep the pork above the pan. This makes for good all around browning. Pour 2 cups of water into the pan and transfer the pork to your preheated oven.
  3. Roast for 25 minutes, keeping the oven setting at 475 F.
  4. Note: All ovens are slightly different, so watch it while cooking. If after the first 15 minutes, you feel it’s browning too quickly, drop the heat down. I kept my oven at 475F the entire time and had no problems, but it’s worth keeping an eye on it.
  5. Flip the pork over and turn the pan 180 degrees to ensure even roasting. If the bottom of the pan is dry, add another cup of water.
  6. Roast for another 15 minutes and then baste with leftover marinade and honey mixture. Roast for a final 10 minutes.
  7. By now, the pork has cooked for 50 minutes total. It should be cooked through and caramelized on top. If it’s not caramelized to your liking, you can turn the broiler on for a couple minutes to crisp the outside and add some color/flavor, but watch it closely as the sugar will burn.
  8. Let it rest for 10 minutes, and then slice against the grain and serve with rice and braised baby bok choy or as a delicious appetizer for any dish. And it’s also fantastic as a garnish on top of soup, noodles or ramen. 
Note: There are two options for storing the char sui, one is to cook it all and then to let it cool and vacuum seal it. The other is to vacuum seal it and freeze it without cooking it and I think probably that is the best method. then you can just take it out of the freezer and thaw and cook it when you need another batch. 

    Notes

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