Mastering Chinese cooking is quite possibly the final frontier for any cook or chef. China is a rich tapestry of cultures, cuisines and culinary traditions that the idea of ‘Chinese food’ is incredibly difficult to pin down. I make quite a lot of Chinese dishes at home but I’m honestly only just starting to scratch the surface of China’s network of delicious foods. Between my go to recipe for chow mein and my Hainanese chicken rice (a true favourite of mine) I feel I’ve been building a nice collection of Chinese dishes for my roster. This led me to deciding to tackle, and later nail, a recipe for Char Siu, Chinese roast pork. 

Char siu is known to most British people as an option to have in fried rice at most Chinese takeaways. It is always delicious but is usually a paired back version that is milder to compliment the gentle palate of some Brits. The version I make is far more in line with Chinese techniques and delivers a result that is deeply flavourful, tender, and has an intoxicatingly red glazed exterior that proves we eat with our eyes as much as we do with our mouths. 

This is a recipe that I am particularly proud of because I spent a lot of time and effort on it, testing different cuts of pork to see what worked best with what I had to hand and used the resulting meat in a few subsequent dishes. I made fried rice with the first batch I made, which used pork loin. With the second I used pork shoulder and made some bao buns that looked crap but tasted delicious. Sadly I have some work to do in perfecting my pleating skills. Nevertheless, this recipe will generate some excellent char siu that will give you a taste of authentic Chinese flavours without leaving your kitchen.

Pro tip: This recipe can be easily scaled up or down to reflect how much meat you have, but as long as you have a good balance of the marinade’s ingredients and cover the meat thoroughly this recipe should work pretty well. Another thing to keep in mind is you absolutely must adhere to the step where you allow the meat to rest, this is how you make sure all that delicious flavour you’ve built up stays locked into the pork.

Ingredient note: All ingredients can be found in Asian supermarkets or online, but you may need to make a trip to a butcher for the meat itself. British supermarkets increasingly have a worse and worse range of cuts of meat available and pork is maybe the worst culprit for this. Almost always all one can find are pork steaks that are incredibly lean and will not work for this recipe. I got my pork shoulder from Costco but all butchers will also supply de-boned shoulders for you.

If you absolutely cannot find pork shoulder, aim for another cut that is decently marbled with fat. Failing this a pork loin roast can work, but cut down the cooking time to 15 minutes, when you turn the meat over roast for a further 10. Increase the oven temp as stated in the method and follow the rest of the recipe as written.

Cuisine	Chinese
Serves	4-6 servings
Prep Time	20 minutes
Cook Time	Approx 1 hour

Ingredients: 

• 1.5kg pork shoulder, cut along the grain into long thinner logs
• 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp honey or maltose 
• 6 tbsp sugar (50:50 white and brown works best)
• 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 6 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
• 2 tbsps Chinese five spice powder
• 2 tbsps MSG
• 2 tbsps sesame oil
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1tbsp red food colouring (traditionally the red colour comes from red koji but this is hard to find even in Asian supermarkets)

Method:

1. Prepare the pork by cutting as stated in the ingredients list.
2. Combine all other ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Add pork to the marinade and make sure all of the meat is covered in the marinade.
4. Place clingfilm over the marinated pork to create a seal over the meat and assist in preventing naked spots. Refridgerate from a minimum of 8 hours but ideally for 24 hours.
5. When you are ready to roast, preheat your oven to 170 degrees. 
6. To cook the pork we want it to have some circulation in the oven, to achieve the ideal set up line an oven-proof baking dish with tin foil. Then add a wire rack to the dish. Finally add a splash of water (this will help with cleanup and can be used to glaze the pork.
7. Place your pork on the rack and cook for 10-15 minutes.
8. As the pork cooks, take any reserved marinade and add additional honey, food colouring, shaoxing wine and mix until fully combined. This is now our glaze.
9. After 15 minutes carefully turn the pork over and glaze it liberally on both sides. 
10. Repeat this process of roasting for 15 minutes then basting and turning two more times. (45 minutes total)
11. Turn the oven up to 220 degrees, reglaze the pork and cook for 5 minutes. Glaze and turn again, cooking for another 5 minutes. The pork should have a glossy deep colour and have some very dark, nearly black spots at the edges. 
12. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.