Cantonese · main
Char Siu (BBQ Pork)
叉烧 · Chāshāo
Cantonese roast pork — marinated, hung in special ovens, glazed with honey and maltose. Eaten over rice or in buns.
Char siu (lit. 'fork-roast') is the canonical Cantonese roasted-meat dish. Pork shoulder is marinated in a mix of hoisin, fermented bean paste, honey, soy, Shaoxing wine, five-spice and red colouring (sometimes natural, sometimes food dye), then hung from forks in a barrel-shaped roasting oven. The result is sweet-savoury, with caramelised edges and tender interior. Served sliced over rice (cha siu fan), as filling for dim sum bao, or as a topping for noodles.
Where to try
Hong Kong's Yat Lok, Joy Hing Roasted Meat, Kam's Roast Goose. Guangzhou's siu mei stalls.
Dietary notes
Pork.
Cities to try Char Siu (BBQ Pork)
Other south dishes
- Beef Chow Fun干炒牛河
Flat rice noodles dry-fried with silky marinated beef, beansprouts and spring onion over a fierce wok flame.
- Beef Chow Fun干炒牛河
Stir-fried wide flat rice noodles with sliced beef, scallion, bean sprouts and a smoky wok-hei flavour.
- Buddha Jumps Over the Wall佛跳墙
Fujian's banquet centrepiece — a slow-simmered soup of dried abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, ham and 20+ other ingredients.
- Cantonese Roast Goose烧鹅
Whole goose roasted to crisp-skinned tenderness. The most prized of the Cantonese siu mei roasted meats.