home made char siu - 叉燒

I bought a whole piece of pork butt to make braised pork (charsiu) for ramen. However I didn't want to have that much of ramen charsiu. I decided to only use one half. What to do with the other half? I initially thought I would make tasso with it. Then seeing the jar of Chinese fermented red bean curd that has been sitting on the kitchen counter for months, the decision was easy. I would just make Chinese charsiu with it. Sound strange? What is the difference between the charsiu that is used as topping for a bowl of ramen and the Chinese charsiu?

The two cannot be more different. The charsiu for topping of Japanese ramen is a slow-braised piece of pork, while the Chinese charsiu 叉燒 is also called Chinese barbecue pork in the West. The two words char 叉 and siu 燒 mean roast in an open fire on a spit. As Japanese ramen evolved from Chinese soup noodle I suspect it once was the same as Chinese charsiu. Over time the cooking technique evolved and changed significantly and today the two have little resemblance.

the charsiu used for topping ramen

the marinade is made with fermented red bean curd, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, salt, sugar and a small dash of rice wine

As always, I don't have a recipe. I pretty well taught myself how to make Chinese char siu by taste. The portions of the condiments in the marinade are "measured" by gut estimate.

the red color is natural due to the kind of mold the bean curd making process

this is what the fermented red bean curd looks like sold in bulk

i let the meat marinate for a few days in the fridge (12 hours is more than adequate)

I let the pork sit in room temperature before smoking it

After starting the pork in the propane smoker at low heat, I was ready to go for a long walk. Fortunately I checked the smoker and that averted a potential disaster the risk burning down my house. I noticed there was a flame burning near the propane gas valve under the smoker. If left unattended it could potentially develop into a runaway fire if the gas valve overheat and fails to regulate the gas supply. I did a search online and turns out it is a very common problem with gas burners left outdoors. Spiders like to crawl inside the gas tube and build nests. The spiders and their silk clog up the gas orifices and cause the propane to back up to the fresh air inlet near the gas valve.

As the smoking has already started, I could not clean the smoker so I move the charsiu to the oven to finish cooking instead. The dripping oil create a lot of smoke until I wised up and place a drip pan under the meat. Duh!

the pork took less than 30 minutes to cook

they taste remarkable compared to the common disgusting sugar glazed red ones that one buy; I like them with very little sweetness; my charsiu has no food coloring

I do not glaze my charsiu with sugar syrup as I dislike my meat tastes like candy. I use only a small amount of sugar in the marinate to balance out the saltiness. My Chinese charsiu tastes closer to Louisiana's tasso. It has a lot of umami and depth, as suppose to candy sweet. You can really taste the complex dimension of the soy sauce, rice wine, and the fermented red bean curd. The meat is umami rich and does not rely on the sugary glaze.

char siu 叉燒 serving izakaya fashion

warm sake, char siu, Japanese scallops with watercress