Char Siu (Chinese Sweet Barbecued Pork)

Submitted by ChrisMc

"This is a traditional Chinese recipe for pork - the pork is very flavorful and fairly sweet. I had never heard of this until my first trip to Hawaii; now I know what I was missing. I'm posting a companion recipe for this (Cha Siu Bao - barbecued pork buns) in a few days. Prep time includes marinating time."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 10mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 453.59 g pork (I use boneless chops)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4.92 ml salt
• 2.46 ml fresh ginger, minced
• 14.79 ml soy sauce
• 14.79 ml honey
• 14.79 ml wine
• 2.46 ml Chinese five spice powder
• red food coloring

directions

1. Trim the fat from the pork and cut into chunks; each chunk should be between 2-4 bites.
2. Blend all remaining ingredients.
3. The pork and marinade should be fairly bright red- add enough food coloring to give it a nice color.
4. Marinate for at least 3 and preferable 24 hours.
5. Broil or grill for 3-4 minutes on a side or until the pork is done through.

Reviews

[Petey Camaro]

Very good. I marinated it for a day and then slow cooked it on the BBQ - very good. I also whipped up a little sauce to pour over top of it and the white rice. It consisted of the same ingredients as the marinate but I added a chicken broth with corn starch to make it into more of a sauce. Add some sauteed pea-pods and you have a great meal!!!

 

[love my 2Cees]

I was pleased with how this recipe came out. I used Country Style Ribs, trimmed them well and cut them into chunks. I also broiled them in the oven and they came out great. The only problem with this recipe is that it did not seem sweet enough to me, so next time I think I will add brown sugar to the marinade.

 

[Mary the Disturbed]

Really nice char siu recipe. I've made this several times now, and it seems like it's always an impulse item (i.e., I've got a pork chop in the freezer and nothing for dinner, which is in two hours), so I've never given it a long marinating time and it still comes out good (can't wait to see what the 24-hour version is like). I have xiaoshing wine in my pantry so I use that. Also, I cook on a gas grill, indirect medium heat, with a small pan of water directly under the meat (I had an old oven recipe for char siu that did this and it seemed to work well). I might even try indirect low heat for this this some time and see how that comes out. You definitely don't want high direct heat though.

 

[Ilysse]

Very yummy pork. The kids loved it. My 6 year old took a bite and said "this is yummy chicken." LOL Served this with my Stir Fried lettuce Recipe #172615 and jasmine rice. A good and easy meal. Oh, and it marinated for 2 days (not planned) and still came out very well. I broiled this time, next time we will grill. I also used tenderloin and may try just grilling the whole thing rather than cutting into chunks, courious how roasting would be too. Will play with this alot, since everyone enjoyed the flavors. Thanks for posting.

 

[Jacklyn Modery]

This came out great. I will be making it again. I used two pork tenderloins and made them on the grill.