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Char Siu (叉燒) - Chinese BBQ Pork - Made With Lau
Char Siu (叉燒) - Chinese BBQ Pork - Made With Lau
Char Siu (叉燒) - Chinese BBQ Pork - Made With Lau
Char Siu
A time-tested recipe for perfect, juicy, tender char siu, a classic Cantonese favorite!
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
3 lb pork shoulder (or a fatty cut, more on this later)
Instructions
Cut the pork shoulder (3 lb) into long slices, roughly about 1 inch thick. We'll aim to cut
each slice with uniform thickness so they cook at the same rate.
Afterwards, we'll repeatedly poke each side of each slice with a fork to help the pork
absorb our marinade more effectively.
If you'd like a more rich, red color, you can add a few drops of red food coloring (0.38 tsp).
Place the meat into a zip-top bag, pour the sauce in, and massage the pork for about 2
minutes so that the sauce is able to finesse its way into the meat. Afterwards, we’ll push
all the air out of the bag and seal it.
Place the bag in the refrigerator, and let the pork marinate overnight, or at least for around
6 to 8 hours.
Chef’s Tip: My dad says to not let it marinate for over 24 hours, or else it will affect the
tenderness of the meat. If you refrigerate the pork, let it sit for about 1 hour to bring it to
room temperature before starting to cook it.
Set up the baking pan by lining the bottom with aluminum foil (so it's easier to clean!),
and place the baking rack on top of the foil.
Using tongs, start laying out the pork on the baking rack and pan.
Add 1 to 2 tbsp of water to the bottom of the pan to help generate some steam as the char
siu cooks, and to help prevent the drippings from burning and smoking.
Now, we’ll be removing the char siu periodically to baste it again with either our leftover
pork marinade, or honey (3 tbsp) diluted with water (3 tsp).
Cook for 15 minutes and baste both sides with the pork marinade
Cook for another 15 minutes and baste both sides with pork marinade again
Cook for 10 minutes and baste both sides with the diluted honey
And finally, we’ll turn the heat up to 450° F, cook for another 5 minutes, baste both sides with honey,
and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting into it.
In total, this is about 50 minutes in the oven.
Once the char siu has finished its last cycle in the oven, we'll baste each side with our
diluted honey.
Let the char siu cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into it.