Authentic Char Siu Pork (Barbecue pork)

I recently discovered Le Royal China, an authentic Chinese restaurant in Paris. Proper Dim Sums were finally on the menu, but also Char Siu Pork, and Peking Duck ! I couldn't wait to try the Char Siu, to see how it compared to my own recipe. I do not mean to boast, and I'm simply being transparent : mine was vastly better than the restaurant's version, be it texture-wise or taste-wise. In my recipe, the meat is properly grilled, which you can always adjust towards the end, as it massively depends on your oven types. The pork is tender and juicy, with a strong savoury taste due to the hoisin sauce, fermented bean curd and soy sauce, all enriched with the 5-spices and the sugar/honey. This gives birth to a mesmerizing glaze, that is as tasty as it is shiny and pretty on the outside. This glaze is the reason why my favourite way of eating Char Siu is extremely simple : a bowl of rice, Char Siu slices, a generous glaze amount, and a few cucumber slices. That's it. That really is all you need, because Char Siu is a powerhouse it itself. Char Siu might seem intimidating at first, as all large pieces of charred meats seem to involve lots of work. It is actually much simpler than it looks, with 20 minutes of prep work, and 40 minutes of oven-cooking, tops :

• First, cut your pork shoulder along the grain, in long 4 to 5 cm strips. Other recipes recommend around 2cm strips, but I find it juicier that way ;
• Poke your meat well with a fork ;
• Make your marinade, then pour it with your pork in a ziploc bag ;
• Let it rest at least 7 hours ;
• Cook it a preaheated oven, and glaze it 3 times while it cooks.

This dish shows that Chinese cuisine has much more to offer than your usual stir-fries, noodles and raviolis. Every bite is a contrast of texture and taste—a dance of crisp, chewy, and meltingly tender. There’s a primal satisfaction in it, with the full barbecue pleasure dressed up wih a bold, sweet-smoky glaze. Plus, this is your ideal crowd-friendly dish. The overall cost for 12 servings was around 15€, including the marinade ingredients. Seriously, less than 1€ per serving. For something that tastes positively splendid. Bon appétit !

Authentic Char Siu Pork (Barbecue pork) - Recipe

Ingredients - Advice & key points

• Be careful to account for the marinade time ! It's best to prep this dish the day before you cook it. Do not let it marinade more than 24 hours though, or the texture might be less juicy.
• If you want to have enough sauce to make around 6 servings of Char Siu with rice, double the marinade amount and save half of it before marinating the pork ; after a few minutes in the pan, this will be your sauce.
• Pork :
  • I really recommend pork shoulder (pork neck, more precisely : in French, careful, it is "échine de porc" that you need, not "épaule de porc") for this recipe. as it reaches the perfect amount of fat to muscle to make it juicy, but not excessively greasy. You can still go for the fattier pork belly if you feel like it, or if that's what you can get.
  • Also, remember to cut against the grain to get a tender texture.

• Marinade ingredients :
  • You will need to go to a decent Asian store to find what you need, especially for the red fermented bean curd, which looks like this :

• • Red food coloring : It's OK if you cannot find this, as it only serves esthetic purposes ; the glaze is even more appealing in a deep red color than a darkish brow one.
• The remaining ingredients are either basic Asian pantry items or produce you can easily find at the grocery store.

How to eat Char Siu Pork

• There are several delicious ways of eating Char Siu Pork, my favourites being :
  • Char Siu Pork over Rice, with the glaze and a few cucumbers of blanched Pak Choi ;
  • Char Siu Noodle soup ;
  • Dry Char Siu Noodles ;
  • Char Siu Banh Mi.

Let's dig into it !