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    Meat · Recipe · Guangdong · Reference page

    Char siu

    叉燒 (char siu, chāshāo)

    Long strips of pork neck marinated in a sweet, red barbecue sauce with plum sauce, sesame oil and five spice, roasted hot and then slowly for two hours, basted and turned until deep red and tender. This is Ross Dobson's home-oven recipe, published by SBS.

    Sliced char siu pork with red-brown glaze, charred edges and coriander on a white oval platter.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    6
    Preparation
    10 min
    Cooking
    2 h 40
    Resting
    3 h 30
    Total
    6 h 20
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Large bowl for marinating
    • Baking tray lined with baking paper
    • Pastry brush; tongs
    Servings6

    Ingredients

    • The pork

    • Barbecue sauce

    • To serve

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Cut the pork lengthways into long strips about 5 cm thick and put them in a bowl. Stir the barbecue sauce ingredients together until the sugar dissolves, pour over the pork and rub it in evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 3–6 hours, or overnight.

      Timer · 3 h180:00

    2. Heat the oven and line a tray with baking paper. Lay the pork on the tray; keep the sauce for basting.

    3. Roast for 20 minutes, until the edges start to char. Turn and roast for another 20 minutes.

      Why The hot start caramelises the sugary coating.

      Timer · 40 min40:00

    4. Lower the oven and roast for 2 hours more, brushing with the reserved sauce and turning every 20 minutes, until the pork is very tender and deep red.

      Why Neck has enough fat and connective tissue to turn tender over a long, moderate roast; repeated basting builds the lacquer.

      Timer · 2 h120:00

    5. Take the pork out and rest it for 30 minutes.

      Timer · 30 min30:00

    6. Mix the soy sauce, rice wine and sugar with the water until the sugar dissolves. Slice the pork, drizzle with some of this dressing, garnish with coriander and serve with rice and greens.

    To drink & serve with

    • Dobson suggests a cold Asian pale or light lager to cleanse the palate.

    • Pilsner (Czech pale lager)

      Editorial suggestion within Dobson's advice: a crisp pale lager.

    Substitutions

    • Home-made sauce → Bought char siu sauce, as in SBS's quicker Food Safari version (pork fillet, 200 °C, about 40 minutes).
    • Pork neck → Pork belly or shoulder; fillet is leaner and needs far less time.

    Common mistakes

    • Not turning and basting: the sugar burns on one side and the glaze stays thin.
    • Slicing at once: rest the pork so the juices settle.
    • Using a very lean cut for the long roast: it dries out.

    Storage & reheating

    Keeps well cold for sandwiches, fried rice and buns. Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days.

    Safety

    Contains soy and gluten (soy sauce), sesame (sesame oil) and sulphites (rice wine, some sauces). Pork must be cooked right through and steaming hot; the long roast does this. Marinate in the refrigerator.

    Allergens

    Gluten · Soy · Sesame · Sulphites

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Cantonese barbecue in a home oven

    Char siu is the red, lacquered roast pork of Cantonese barbecue shops, sliced over rice or served at yum cha. Ross Dobson's recipe, from his book Food + Beer and published by SBS, is written for a home oven and uses two temperatures: 220 °C to char the edges, then two hours at 160 °C with basting and turning every 20 minutes.

    Dobson admits he wondered about the tomato sauce in his marinade, but notes that it was indeed used as an alternative to red food colouring in many Cantonese cookbooks of the 1960s. At a pop-up yum cha he ran, it was the most popular dish.

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    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Guangdong In preparation

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