Char Siu is Cantonese BBQ pork. If you have been following me for some time, you know
that I made char siu before. Today, I d like to remake this video and address some of your
questions from before. And this is what I call, the ultimate Char Siu recipe!
Use a fork to lightly stab the pork everywhere on both sides. Why am I doing this? It helps
to tenderize the meat and allows the marinade to penetrate more. Can we use other cuts?
So, today I m using pork butt. It s a cut that s coming from the shoulder of the pig.
It has a nice marbling and great balance of both fat and lean meat. If you prefer more
fat, you could replace it with pork belly. If you prefer only lean meat, you could replace
it with pork loin. Instead of pork, you could also use chicken for this recipe.
To make the marinade, in a bowl, mix in the fermented red bean curd. This provides a beautiful
red coating on the char siu. You could also use red yeast rice or red food coloring to
replace it. Also add the sauce of fermented red bean curd, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce,
soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rose cooking wine. What can we use to replace it? You could
also use other types of cooking wine or opt it out if you can't consume any alcohol. And
add the sugar, five-spice powder, white pepper, and garlic. Whisk thoroughly. From my experience
in making char siu, these ingredients create one of the best char siu sauces. But if you
like, you could also add more herbs like cilantro, scallions, shallots, etc.
Reserve 3 tablespoons of the marinade. Cover and place it in the fridge.
Transfer the pork to a large Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade. Squeeze most of the
air out of the Ziploc bag and seal it. Distribute and rub the marinade all over the meat. Transfer
the bag to the fridge to marinate overnight, flipping it about halfway through.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F or 204 degrees C. Please keep in mind that every oven is
a bit different, and the thickness and size of the meat are varied too, so you might have
to adjust the temperature and time based on these conditions.
Place a roasting rack on top of a foil-lined roasting pan. Remove the pork from the Ziploc
bag and place them on the roasting rack. Transfer the roasting pan to the oven, where the pork
is located at the center, and roast for 30 minutes, 400 degrees F or 204 degrees C.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Brush the reserved marinade all over the pork on
both sides. Return the roasting pan to the oven and roast for another 30 minutes, 400
degrees F or 204 degrees C.
In the meantime, in a bowl, add the honey, or replace it with maltose, and hot water.
Whisk until combined.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven and brush the honey glaze all over the pork on
both sides. Return the roasting pan to the oven and roast for a final 15 minutes, 400
degrees F or 204 degrees C.
Remove the char siu from the oven. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing it
into bite-size pieces. At least point, the internal temperature of the pork is at least
165 degrees F or 74 degrees C. Enjoy!