IMBB 6: Char Siew – Chinese Sweet Barbecued Pork

Char siew needs little introduction. If there is one Chinese food item that is universally recognized the world over by its Chinese name, it is probably this succulent, slightly sweet meat. Char siew (sometimes spelt char siu) is not only eaten as is, with noodles or rice, but is also an integral ingredient in many popular Chinese food items like char siew pau (BBQ pork steamed buns) or char siew sou (baked flakey pastry filled with BBQ pork). It is also a great addition when cooking dishes like fried rice and fried noodles or rice vermicelli (beehoon).

Many other Asian cultures, such as the Japanese and Koreans, also have their own versions of this Chinese sweet pork.

While char siew quite obviously does not qualify under the “grilled” food category (i.e. foods cooked quickly over very high heat – think burgers and steaks), it probably does fall quite well under the “barbecued” classification – except perhaps for one small technicality. Barbecuing, as I understand it, involves long and slow cooking at relatively low temperatures in an enclosed cooking environment.

Traditionally, char siew was made by hanging marinated strips of pork in enclosed clay or brick ovens, heated either by wood or charcoal, and slowly cooked to tender and moist perfection. Although in modern times, these clay ovens have been replaced by circular steel “drums”, the strips of pork are still cooked whilst hung from ‘S’ hooks on the sides of these modern cookers, which are fully enclosed to simulate the heat environment of the ancient ovens. (However, more often than not, for practical reasons, most commercial producers use gas to fire these steel cookers; although there are still a few purists who stick faithfully to charcoal.)

So, for all intents of purposes it can be said that char siew is barbecued (as its English name quite obviously suggests). The only technical hitch is the cooking time. “Real” barbecued meats, like barbecued ribs (in the American sense), are cooked for many, many long hours – usually between 12-15 hours – on low, indirect heat. In that sense, char siew is different, being cooked as it is for a fairly short period of time, at moderate temperatures. But hey, I’m not about to quibble over small differences of a few hours of cooking time or a few degrees of temperature. And so, my contribution for this month’s IMBB theme of “Barbecuing and Grilling” is char siew…

The key to good char siew is not so much in the cooking (although that is of course important in terms of getting the right tenderness and moistness); the critical factor is the marinade. And trying to track down a credible char siew recipe for this project was a task in itself. Even asking several aunts if they had tried-and-tested recipes drew an unusual and disappointing blank. Of course, a quick Google on the Internet revealed a plethora of recipes. However, a closer look also showed glaringly that most of these recipes were, shall we just politely say, highly modified versions. So many of them had "surprising" ingredients for a char siew marinade… the popular route seemed to be to put together several ingredients that were deemed to be “essentially” Chinese, such as five spice powder, yellow bean paste, oyster sauce or other such like – ingredients that I personally have not tasted in all the various char siew I have eaten.

In the end, I decided to take an idea from here, use another suggestion from there, incorporate my own history of taste experiences of store-bought char siew, top it with some advice from mum and an aunt, and came up with a customized marinade recipe. And it was deeply satisfying that the result came out tasting very char siew-like indeed, as all the “tasters” (aka family members) enthusiastically declared.

First though, a few notes about the ingredients…

• The cut of pork used in char siew: According to my butcher, most commercially sold char siew are made from either shoulder or leg meat, because these cuts have the right amount of fat and are more intensely flavored. A lot of the recipes I saw on the Internet use tenderloin instead; some simply use the loin. For “research” purposes, I made the char siew using both the shoulder and the tenderloin. The result? The tenderloin produced a very tender and lean char siew, but also a less moist one. The small amount of fat in the shoulder cut, on the other hand, imparted a wonderfully luscious mouth-feel to the char siew, and gave it the all-important, requisite slightly charred, crispy bits in certain parts. The shoulder cut also had deeper flavors and a meatier bite. Both cuts of meat would work; it’s pretty much down to personal preference. Personally, I would go with the shoulder for the flavor and texture.

• If using the shoulder, have the butcher trim the meat into one long strip (the piece of meat on the left in the picture ).

• Maltose is used in the marinade of all store-bought char siew. However, this did not appear as an ingredient in a single recipe that I saw on the Internet, or indeed in most cookbooks. Almost all the recipes list honey instead. Before this project, I had never worked with maltose before; and would have imagined that it was fairly interchangeable with honey. After having worked with maltose, I would say that it is very different from honey, and the results it gives are rather different too. Maltose is rather hard and extremely sticky and gooey. It gives a certain viscosity to the marinade, and more importantly, it imparts a high gloss and shine to the meat, which is also an important part of the appeal of char siew. And unlike honey, when cooked, it has a less sticky feel to it. The sweetness of maltose is also different from that of honey. I personally feel that maltose is quite an integral part of the char siew marinade. However, if it is unavailable, I think honey does make for an acceptable substitution.

• The most common type of char siew seen around the world is the red colored version. In Singapore and Hong Kong, there is also the dark brown variety – char siew made without the use of any food coloring. I actually prefer the latter. However, for camera aesthetics purposes, I decided to use red food color to make the char siew; and I have to admit it does add a certain appeal to the meat. Usually powdered food coloring is used – the same type that is commonly used to color First Full Moon red-dyed hard-boiled eggs or birthday longevity peach buns. In Asia, they are commonly sold in Chinese medical halls; outside Asia, they should be available at large Asian grocers. If unavailable, I would think that regular liquid food coloring would work equally well.

I have not included an exact quantity for the food color in the recipe, as this will vary depending on the brand of food color used, its pigment intensity and of course, personal preference as to how red you want the meat to be. It is highly advisable to add the color in small increments; the color can tip very quickly and easily from something that is nicely red to one that is an eery alien red (as I discovered). Also keep in mind that because of the dark soy sauce in the marinade, the sauce will look less red than it actually is. The meat will cook out to a brighter and more obvious red than what the marinade may suggest. [I ended up using a combination of two colors: Sunset Yellow which is actually red with an orange cast, and Large Red (a literal translation from the Chinese name “da hong”) which is a deep blue-toned red. ]

• Most often, Chinese rice wine is used in the marinade. However, it is also not uncommon for brandy, whisky, rum or dry sherry to be used instead. I prefer the conventional rice wine, but whatever is convenient for you will work just fine. Perhaps my only suggestion would be that if using something that has a sharper “edge” to it than rice wine, you may wish to adjust the quantity used accordingly.

And oh, one more point: I made the char siew in the oven. I did not hang the meat up in the customary way as my oven did not allow me to do so; the meat was simply placed on a rack in a roasting pan. And it worked beautifully. It could just as easily be cooked, I’m sure, on the barbecue, if you so desire.

Renee’s Char Siew

Approx. 1 kg of pork

5 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
5 generous tablespoons maltose
4 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
4 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
3-4 pieces ginger, peeled and smashed
3-4 cloves garlic, whole and smashed
red food color

Glaze (optional):
2 tablespoons maltose, warmed

• Clean the pork and remove the skin.

• In a medium saucepan, combine all the marinade ingredients (light soy sauce through to garlic). Heat the mixture for one minute, to allow the sugar and maltose to dissolve. Let cool.

• Place a few tablespoons of the marinade into a small bowl, and add a small amount of food color. Stir to dissolve completely. Pour the colored marinade back into the main mixture, and mix thoroughly. Check color intensity, and repeat the steps as necessary until the desired intensity of red coloring is achieved.

• Add the pork to the marinade and allow it to macerate in the refrigerator for anywhere between four hours to overnight. Stir occasionally to ensure all sides of the meat are well-covered with marinade. [I only managed to marinate my pork for about 2 hours, and it worked fine.]

• Remove the marinated pork from the fridge about 20-30 minutes before cooking, to allow it to come back to room temperature.

• Preheat the oven to 210C or 410F.

• Line a roasting pan with foil and place a rack in it.

• Place the pork lengthwise on the rack. [I also added about ½ inch of hot water to the bottom of the roasting pan just to help keep the meat moist. This is optional.] Put it in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes (about 10 minutes for the tenderloin and 15 for the shoulder).

• Baste the meat with the marinade and turn it over. Reduce the heat to 180C or 360F, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

• Baste the pork again and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Check for doneness. [My tenderloin was done in about 25 minutes or so in total, and the shoulder about 40 minutes or so.]

• This is an optional step: if more of the charred bits, so characteristic of store-bought char siew, are desired, let the cooked pork cool for 2-3 minutes after it comes out of the oven, then brush with the warm maltose. Place the pork under the broiler/grill for 2-4 minutes, turning a few times, until some parts of the pork become slightly charred and crispy.

• Alternately, after the pork comes out of the oven, brush a layer of the marinade (be sure to bring the marinade to a boil and cook it through first though, as it has had raw pork sitting in it) over the meat, and leave to cool and dry for about 10 minutes before slicing the pork. This will give the char siew that final glossy, shiny finish.

I chose the latter option. But, as you can see from the pictures, we didn’t wait until the sauce had been absorbed; the family was impatient to get their hands on the pork. And so it was a little messy slicing into the char siew, with the still wet sauce running into the center of each slice.

Other than that, the char siew looked very good, and tasted just as wonderful, if I may say so myself. And the family unanimously approved of the marinade’s balance of flavor. In fact, I had much difficulty keeping their paws off the freshly barbecued slices of pork; they were gobbling up the char siew faster than I was slicing it, and there was a real danger there wouldn’t be any meat left for the konlo (dry tossed) noodles that I was serving for dinner.

And so, this was our dinner…

An additional note: to make some delicious char siew gravy to pour over rice or the char siew slices themselves, either make another batch of the marinade mixture, minus the food coloring, and cook it down on the stove (remembering to remove the ginger and garlic before serving); or, if no food coloring was used in the original marinade, simply bring the remaining marinade to a boil on medium heat, reduce to a simmer, allow the mixture to reduce slightly, strain and serve.

I’ve just discovered how tasty freshly cooked char siew is; how different it is from store-bought ones. And they freeze well too. You can make a batch, store them in the freezer, and use them to make paus (or baos) and other dim sum items, or use them in fried rice or stir fries… char siew is so wonderfully versatile.

Happy char siew-ing!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.