Posted on Wed 24th January 2024
Char Siu
Ever wondered how the restaurants make the most delicious, sweet, sticky, savoury pork? Well here's how you can do it at home, without all the food colouring!
Cuisine
Chinese
Time
2.5 hrs
Servings
4
Ingredients
- 2 x 300g pieces of pork neck fillet (swapsies: pork belly slices for extra fat or pork fillet for a leaner finish)
The Marinade
- ½ thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon five spice
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste or puree
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon Shao Xing rice wine
- 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 4 tablespoons honey
Method
Preparation
Finely chop the ginger and garlic, then massage all of ‘The Marinade’ ingredients into the
pork neck fillets. This dish can be cooked immediately if you’re too hungry to wait, or ideally
cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight for best results.
Cooking
Place the meat on a grill tray, reserving the marinade to baste whilst cooking. Preheat the
oven to 150°C and roast the pork for 1 – 1 ½ hours until well charred on the outside, turning
once and basting intermittently with the sauce to get a good caramelised finish on the meat.
The slower the cooking process, the more succulent the meat will become.
If barbecuing instead of roasting, get your barbecue temperature as close to 150°C as
possible and then barbecue for 1 – 1 ½ hours until well charred on the outside. Baste as you
would in the oven for more flavour and caramelisation.
Tip: For a quick dinner, you may also cook this quickly in a preheated oven at 180°C for 20
minutes on either side, turning once to char both sides of meat and basting every 10
minutes or so for added depth of flavour.