Recipe: Pork Neck Char Siu 叉燒

Char siu, also known as Chinese-style BBQ pork can be made using different cuts of pork such as pork loin, pork shoulder, pork neck or pork belly. Our family loves char siu, though our kids prefer leaner cuts, hence the experimentation with pork neck.

Pork neck char siu

Pork neck is the perfect cut for us, as it is lean, yet slightly marbled, with just a tiny weensy bit of fat at the top. I first marinated the pork for 6-8 hours, with a mix of light soy sauce, oil, honey, caster sugar, mushroom sauce, Chinese Shaoxing wine, white pepper, crushed garlic and ground ginger.

This is what raw pork neck looks like

Since there is fat on the meat, you will need to cook it slightly longer (compared to if you were only using lean meat) so that the layers of fat just yields as you bite through it.

After tweaking the marinade and cooking times a few times, I am finally happy with the flavour and texture of the char siu. Furthermore, all the cooking is done in the oven, in under 45 minutes and cleaning up is super easy - just remove the foil and throw. Perfecto!

Our kids loved this a lot as the meat is sticky, sweet and tender, so much so that they were "fighting" to get their forks on the last few pieces. :) You can serve the char siu with rice as part of your meal or with wantan mee.

Pork neck char siu
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
500g pork neck

For the marinade
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 1/2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp oyster or mushroom sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1/8 tsp ground ginger
2 crushed garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp ground white pepper

1. Place marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

2. Rinse the pork neck and pat dry. Trim off the skin and discard. Cut into half width-wise and then half again lengthwise, so that you end up with 4 strips of about 1 - 1.5" thick.

3. Place pork neck strips into a ziplock bag, then pour marinade in (from Step 1) to coat the strips. Marinate for at least 6-8 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C (no fan). Line a baking tray with foil and lay the pork only onto the tray. Keep marinade for use later. Place tray in oven and cook for 15 minutes.

5. Turn to roast mode. Cook for a further 10 minutes, and then flip the meat over and cook for another 10 minutes.

6. Increase to 190°C (roast mode). Remove from oven and baste with the marinade and continue to cook in the oven.  Every 3 minutes, remove and baste again, for a total of 4 times. On the final 4th round, pour all the marinade over the pork and cook for 6 minutes. (ie 3 mins, 3 mins, 3 mins, 6 mins). It should be charred in places, and the marinade is now sticky and thick.

7. Remove tray from oven and allow char siu to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. Cut them into 1.5cm - 2cm chunks. Drizzle some sauce onto the char siu before serving.

For our pork belly char siew recipe, click here .

For the wantan mee recipe, click here.

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