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Chinese Barbecue and Grilling

Char siu, cha siu and the cooking of the Cantonese barbecue window.

Char Siu, Chinese Barbecue PorkShoulder

Char Siu, Chinese Barbecue Pork

The glossy red barbecue pork that hangs in Cantonese windows. Pork shoulder strips lacquered in a sweet, savoury glaze and cooked until the edges char.

1 hr · serves 6

Chinese barbecue, siu mei, is a roasting tradition: char siu pork, roast duck and crisp pork belly lacquered and cooked in tall ovens. Adapted to a charcoal grill, it is about the glaze and the char at the edges.

The flavours lean on hoisin, soy, honey, five-spice and fermented bean curd, sweet and savoury at once, built up in thin basted layers rather than a single coat.

At a glance

RecipeMethodGrill tempCook timePull at
Char Siu, Chinese Barbecue PorkTwo-zone cooking135 to 175°C (275 to 350°F)1 hr70°C (160°F)

Techniques used

Two-zone cooking. Coals banked to one side: a searing zone and a gentle zone in one grill. The single most useful technique in charcoal cooking.

Cookers these suit

Drum smokers. Kamado grills. Kettle grills.