Char Siu Recipe: How to Make Chinese BBQ Pork

Char siu is a Chinese method for spit-roasting pork in a marinade of honey, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and five-spice powder, which turns the pork red. (Red food coloring is sometimes added for a deeper red color.) Char siu means "fork roasted" in Cantonese, a reference to the traditional method of roasting the pork on long forks over a fire while continually basting with marinade.

You can serve char siu with a variety of appetizers and noodle dishes, including:

1. 1. Char siu bao: Steamed buns filled with char siu are common at dim sum restaurants.
2. 2. Fried rice: Chopped char siu is a typical addition to crispy fried rice.
3. 3. Steamed rice: The simplest way to enjoy char siu is in a bowl of freshly steamed white rice.
4. 4. Noodles: Slices of char siu are often served in a bowl of noodles, and smaller pieces of char siu can be incorporated into a noodle stir-fry.

Ingredients in char siu recipes vary, but the common components of the dish include:

1. 1. Pork: Char siu can be made with pork tenderloin, pork loin, pork belly, or pork butt (aka pork shoulder). The fat content, texture, and cooking time will differ depending on which cut of pork you use.
2. 2. Soy sauce: Soy sauce adds flavors of salt and umami to many Asian dishes. Use both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for more depth of flavor.
3. 3. Hoisin sauce: Hoisin sauce is a dark, thick sauce that contains fermented soybean paste. Bolstered by starches like potato, rice, and wheat, as well as spices and sweeteners like fennel, chilies, garlic, and brown sugar, hoisin is a sweet and savory sauce. It is most used as a marinade or glaze, though it can also be used as a dip or condiment for dishes like Peking duck and cheung fan (rice noodle rolls).
4. 4. Chinese five-spice powder: Chinese five-spice powder is an invaluable spice blend in Chinese cooking that hits on the full range of flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. Although blends vary, the most common ingredients in Chinese five-spice blends you’ll find in grocery stores are star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorn, and fennel seed.
5. 5. Shaoxing wine: Shaoxing cooking wine is a fragrant rice wine used in many Chinese dishes, including the marinade for char siu.
   
6. 6. Maltose: Maltose, a common ingredient in store-bought char siu sauce, is a thick sugar syrup often used in restaurants to give meat a shiny appearance. You can substitute honey or molasses for maltose, but you won't get as shiny of a lacquer.