Guangdong, China
Char Siu
Cantonese honey-glazed barbecued pork — mahogany red, sticky-charred edges, hung over a fire on long forks ("fork-roasted").
Fork-roasted.
*Char siu* literally means "fork roast" — pork loin strips hung from long-handled forks and roasted over a charcoal fire in a tall metal box. The high heat and the open flame are what give the dish its black-edged char and red glaze; an oven-cooked char siu, however well-made, lacks the lacquered crust that a wall of charcoal produces.
4 · Plate
Guangdong, China
Char Siu
Cantonese honey-glazed barbecued pork — mahogany red, sticky-charred edges, hung over a fire on long forks ("fork-roasted").
The most-eaten of the siu mei — the Cantonese repertoire of roast meats that hangs in windows of shops across Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and the Cantonese diaspora. Char siu has cousins (siu yuk / roast pork belly with the puffed crackling, siu ngo / roast goose, siu gai / roast chicken) but it’s the one that travelled most widely as a topping — char siu fan over rice, char siu bao inside a steamed bun, cha siu in a Japanese ramen, char siu in everything.
The dish reads simple but the work is in the marinade. Fermented red bean curd (nam yu) is the Cantonese ingredient that gives char siu its complexity — without it the marinade is just sweet soy. Red yeast rice (hong qu mi) is what gives it the deep red colour without food dye. Substitutes exist; the Cantonese butcher will tell you they don’t work.
Honey goes on twice.
First brushed on at the halfway point so the sugars caramelise. Second brushed on at the end as a finishing glaze, after the meat has rested for a few minutes. The double glaze is what makes char siu sticky on the outside and juicy on the inside; one application leaves it dry, three burns it.