What is Char Siu?

Char siu is the name of the roast Asian pork bowl and sauce used for the marinade meat of the bowl in front of its roast. In Asian communities, meat is often hung in the front window of shops and restaurants and can be easily identified by bright red on the surface of the meat. This color can be achieved by food color or steam of red beans. Char Siu marinade or sauce is usually made of dark soy sauce, hoisin sauces, five spices and rice wine, although other spices such as anise, brown sugar and fermented bean sauce can be added. The meat can be served separately as sliced ​​or crushed or chopped and used in other dishes. After marinating, the meat is traditionally placed on a long fork of cooking and baked above the open fire, which allows flames to caramelize sugars on the left of the marinade. This method rarely uses outside of very traditional or top restaurants. Instead, the meat is more often cooked either vertically in a high oven or simply baked.Pork is sometimes completed on the grill to provide darker color and crispy outer texture.

Preparing Char Siu begins with a set of marinade, which gives most of the taste of pork meat. The marinade is made of Hoisin sauce base, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, five spices, rice wine and usually granulated or brown sugar. Other ingredients may include sliced ​​green onions, anise, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. The distinctive red color of the pork can be obtained by including the red food color or the red beans paste in the marinade, although neither these ingredients nor the coloring are necessary. The meat is marinated in the mixture overnight.

Once pork meat -finished marinating, is baked in the oven or on the grill until it finishes cooking. In the last moments of cooking, honey or malt sugar is shaken above the surface to give the meat a shiny shine. Can be servedAna as a roast with vegetables or sliced ​​on other meals. Popular use is like a filling in steamed houské called Char Siu Bao .

Char Siu's sauce itself can also be used separately, independent of pork. It can be used to treat other masses or poultry such as a duck. It is also served on rice and vegetables, for which it provides a strong taste and color of otherwise vegetarian food.