''Char siu'' () is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, specifically

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

–style of barbecued pork. Originating in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, it is eaten with rice, used as an ingredient for noodle dishes or in stir fries, and as a filling for '' chasiu baau'' or '' pineapple buns.''

Five-spice powder Five-spice powder () is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine. It is also used in Hawaiian cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine. The five flavors of the spices (sweet, bitter, sour, sa ...

is the primary spice, honey or other sweeteners are used as a glaze, and the characteristic red color comes from the

red yeast rice Red yeast rice (), red rice ''koji'' (べにこうじ, lit. 'red ''koji), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red ''koji'' rice, ''anka'', or ''angkak'', is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its color from being cultivate ...

when made traditionally. It is classified as a type of ''

siu mei ''Siu mei'' () is the generic Cantonese name of meats roasted on spits over an open fire or a large wood-burning rotisserie oven. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor and the roast is usually coated with a flavorful sauce (a different sa ...

'' (), Cantonese roasted meat.

Meat cuts

Pork cuts used for ''char siu'' can vary, but a few main cuts are common: *

Pork loin File:British Pork Cuts.svg, 250px, British cuts of pork poly 187 219 187 194 173 196 Trotters poly 372 226 373 207 361 204 359 216 Trotters poly 171 141 166 104 287 117 294 152 Belly poly 167 102 178 27 315 23 274 102 Loin poly 361 201 371 18 ...

Pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless and fatty cut of meat from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Thai and Filipino cuisine. Regional dishes France In Alsatian ...

– produces juicy and fatter ''char siu'' *

Pork butt A Boston butt is the slightly wedged shaped portion of the pork shoulder above the standard picnic cut which includes the blade bone and the "lean butt" (which is boneless), both extensions of the tenderloin cut and can be used in place of the te ...

(shoulder) – produces leaner ''char siu'' *

Pork fat Pig fat is generally the fat in pork. The fatty acid composition of pork is found to be slightly different from meat of other animals, such as beef and lamb. The proportion of fat in pork can vary from 10–16%, but can be higher depending on the cu ...

* Pork neck end – very marbled (''jyu geng yuk'')

Cantonese cuisine

HK Mongkok Maxims BBQ Meat Rice Lunch with Green vegetable

''Char siu'' literally means "fork roasted" (''siu'' being burn/roast and ''cha'' being fork, both noun and verb) after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire. In ancient times, wild boar and other available meats were used to make ''char siu''. However, in modern times, the meat is typically a shoulder cut of domestic pork, seasoned with a mixture of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, five-spice powder, red fermented bean curd,

dark soy sauce In Chinese cuisine, dark soy sauce () is a dark-coloured soy sauce used mainly for adding colour and flavour to dishes. It is richer, slightly thicker, and less salty than other types of soy sauce. As the Chinese name () suggests, it is also ag ...

hoisin sauce Hoisin sauce is a thick, fragrant sauce commonly used in Cantonese cuisine as a glaze for meat, an addition to stir fry, or as dipping sauce. It is dark-coloured in appearance and sweet and salty in taste. Although regional variants exist, ho ...

, red

food colouring Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes. Food coloring is used in both commercial food ...

(not a traditional ingredient but very common in today's preparations and is optional), and

sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

or rice wine (optional). These seasonings turn the exterior layer of the meat dark red, similar to the "smoke ring" of American barbecues. Maltose may be used to give char siu its characteristic shiny glaze. ''Char siu'' is typically consumed with a starch, whether inside a bun (''chasiu baau'', 叉燒包), with noodles (''chasiu min'', 叉燒麵), or with rice (''chasiu faan'', 叉燒飯) in fast food establishments, or served alone as a centerpiece or main dish in traditional family dining establishments. If it is purchased outside of a restaurant, it is usually taken home and used as one ingredient in various complex main courses consumed at family meals.

Hong Kong cuisine

The ovens used to roast char siu are usually large gas rotisseries. Since ovens are not standard in Hong Kong households, ''char siu'' is usually purchased from a ''

'' establishment, which specialises in meat dishes such as ''char siu'',

soy sauce chicken Soy sauce chicken is a traditional Cantonese cuisine dish made of chicken cooked with soy sauce. It is considered as a siu mei dish in Hong Kong. Another Cantonese dish, white cut chicken, often served with a salty ginger-onion paste, is mor ...

white cut chicken White cut chicken or white sliced chicken () is a type of ''siu mei''. Unlike most other meats in the ''siu mei'' category, this particular dish is not roasted, but steamed. The dish is common to the cultures of Southern China, including Guangd ...

roasted goose In cooking and gastronomy, goose is the meat of several species of bird in the family Anatidae. The goose is in the biological family of birds including ducks, and swans, known as the family of Anatidae. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution. ...

, and roasted pork. These shops usually display the merchandise by hanging them in the window.

Southeast Asian cuisine

In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, ''char siew'' rice is found in many Chinese ''shāolà'' () stalls along with roast duck and roast pork. The dish consists of slices of ''char siu'',

cucumbers Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.soy sauce. ''Char siu'' rice is also a popular food within the Chinese community in

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four mai ...

, North Sumatra, where it is more called ''char sio''. In

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, ''char siew'' rice can also be found in

Hainanese chicken rice Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of poached chicken and seasoned rice, served with chilli sauce and usually with cucumber garnishes. It was created by immigrants from Hainan in southern China and adapted from the Hainanese dish Wenchang chic ...

stalls, where customers have a choice of having their ''char siu'' rice served with plain white rice or chicken-flavoured rice, and choose from garlic, chilli and soy sauces. In

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, ''char siu'' is called ''mu daeng'' ( th, หมูแดง, , "red pork") and in Cambodia it is called ''sach chrouk sa seev'' ( km, សាច់ជ្រូកសាសីុវ, ). In the Philippines, it is known as Chinese pork '' asado'', but also referred to as ''cha siu''. It is usually eaten with cold cuts or served stuffed in ''

siopao ''Siopao'' (), is a Philippine steamed bun with various fillings. It is the indigenized version of the Fujianese ''baozi'', introduced to the Philippines by Hokkien immigrants during the Spanish colonial period. It is a popular snack in the Phi ...

''. In Flanders and Holland, it is sometimes mistaken for the Chinese/Indonesian name 'babi pangang'. This is a different dish (mostly sweeter and served with yellow pickled Chinese cabbage, called atjar). In fact, these Chinese/Indo restaurants serve cha(r) sieuw under the original name. These restaurants in the Netherlands derived from Chinese immigrants and are made to adapt to the Dutch palate. Vegetarian ''char siu'' also exists, usually made from wheat gluten. It can be found in vegetarian restaurants and stalls in South East Asian Chinese communities.

Japanese cuisine

Japanese culture has adapted 叉燒 as ''chāshū'' (チャーシュー). Unlike its Chinese variant, it is prepared by rolling the meat into a log and then braising it at a low temperature. The Japanese adaptation is typically seasoned with soy sauce,

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

mirin is a type of rice wine and a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. It is similar to sake but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content. The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate that forms naturally during the fermentation pro ...

and sugar or other sweetener, without the red food colouring, or

five-spice powder Five-spice powder () is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine. It is also used in Hawaiian cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine. The five flavors of the spices (sweet, bitter, sour, sa ...

. It is a typical ingredient for toppings in '' rāmen''.

Pacific Rim cuisine

As a means of exceptional flavor and preparation, ''char siu'' applications extend beyond pork. In Hawaii, various meats are cooked ''char siu'' style. The term ''char siu'' refers to meats which have been marinated in ''char siu'' seasoning prepared either from scratch or from store-bought ''char siu'' seasoning packages, then roasted in an oven or over a fire. Ingredients in marinades for ''cha siu'' are similar to those found in China (honey, five-spice, wine, soy, hoisin, etc.), except that red food colouring is often used in place of the red bean curd for convenience. ''Char siu'' is used to marinate and prepare a variety of meats which can either be cooked in a conventional or convection oven (often not requiring the use of a fork or ''cha(zi)'' as traditional Chinese ovens do), on a standard barbecue, or even in an underground Hawaiian '' imu''. In Hawaii, ''char siu'' chicken is as common as ''char siu'' pork, and various wild birds, mountain goat, and wild boar are also often cooked ''char siu'' style, as are many sausages and

skewers A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. The word may sometimes be used as a metonym, to refer to the entire food item served on a skewer, as in "chicken skewers". Skewers are used while grilling or roasti ...

References

{{Guangdong topics Cantonese cuisine Cantonese words and phrases Dim sum Hawaiian cuisine Hong Kong cuisine Indonesian Chinese cuisine Japanese cuisine Malaysian cuisine Singaporean cuisine Polynesian Chinese cuisine French Polynesian cuisine Grilled skewers Thai cuisine Chinese pork dishes