叉烧 (Char Siu/Cha Shao)

I had a really great char siu recipe years ago. It was a recipe that I synthesized after reading through dozens of char siu recipes + getting advice from Chinese cooks. It involved lots of different ingredients, most of which I've forgotten now. Unfortunately I've since lost the recipe. (This is one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place.)

I'd like to try to recreate that recipe at some point. Or at least a close approximation thereof. In the meantime, I figured I'd give the Woks of Life recipe a try. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. But I am still definitely interested in experimenting with different recipes and tweaks in the future.

汉字/Hanzi: 叉烧
拼音/Pinyin: chāshāo
英文/English: (lit.) fork roasted
This roast pork is usually called "char siu" or "char siew" in English. This is a transliteration of the Cantonese. In Mandarin, it is called "chāoshāo".

叉烧

Slightly adapted from Woks of Life

Ingredients

• 1.4kg boneless pork butt/shoulder¹
• 50g sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. five-spice powder
• 1/4 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine)
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp. malt syrup or honey
• 1 Tbsp. hot water

Directions

1. Cut the pork into slabs or strips about 5cm thick. Don't trim off any fat!
2. Combine the sugar, salt, five-spice powder, white pepper, sesame oil, wine, soy sauce, hoisin, molasses, fresh garlic, and garlic paste and mix well.
3. Set aside 2 Tbsp. of the sauce and set it aside in the fridge.
4. Slather the sauce all over the pieces of pork. Place the pork in a bowl or baking dish, cover it, and place it in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 245°C (475°F) and place a wire rack in a roasting pan or large baking dish.
6. Pour 1-2 c. of water into the bottom of the pan and place the pieces of pork on the rack.
7. Roast in the top third of the oven for 10 minutes.
8. Reduce heat to 190°C (375°F) and continue roasting for another 15 minutes.
9. Remove the pan from the oven and flip all the pieces over. Rotate the pan 180° and return it to the oven.
10. Roast at 190°C (375°F) for another 15 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, mix the reserved 2 Tbsp. of sauce with the malt syrup (or honey) and hot water. You may need to warm it up a bit to get everything to fully combine.
12. Remove the pan from the oven and brush the pork with the glaze. Flip the pork over and brush the other side with the glaze as well.
13. Return to oven and roast for another 10 minutes.
14. If the pork hasn't crisped up yet, set the oven to broil and broil it for a couple minutes on each side. Watch it carefully while it's under the broiler!
15. Remove the pork from the oven and brush another coat of glaze on each side.
16. Let cool for 10 minutes, then slice and enjoy!

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¹ I actually ended up using pork loin. Pork butt is fattier and generally preferred, but I was still happy with the results I got from the leaner loin. ^Back