Perfect char siu (barbecued pork) using sous-vide
I am a char siu addict. But I am also a char siu snob. I absolutely hate artificially colored, dried out, flavorless char siu. It’s like eating cardboard that someone’s poured syrup and food coloring on. Yech. But good char siu, char siu made from wonderfully fatty cuts of pork, char siu that has been marinated properly and for the right amount of time, and char siu that has a wonderful crisp char while still remaining moist inside… that’s pork heaven.
But I am also getting old. So while pork belly char siu is all the rage — and I admit I do love it when done well — I can’t actually eat too much of it. When I make char siu at home these days, I tend to use pork neck (ideally Kurobuta).
Six years ago, I posted a char siu recipe that I still swear by. But these days, I tend not to roast the pork in the oven for the full cook, but instead cook it sous-vide and then only finish it off in a hot oven. This lets me do two things. Firstly, it means I can prep a huge amount of char siu, each portion individually packaged in a vacuum sealed bag. Once cooked, I freeze these beautiful pieces of pork. This then gives me then the ability to defrost a portion when I need it and have char siu pretty much whenever I want. Secondly, it helps me ensure that the pork stays super moist and tender. It locks in flavour and the result is a pretty spectacular piece of meat.
Finishing off the pork is easy. Use either a super hot oven or a blowtorch. You will need to coat the already cooked pork with a combination of hoisin sauce and honey. This then ensures a nice sweet, savory flavour on the char.
I love having slabs of pre-cooked char siu in the freezer. It makes coming up with a simple but satisfying meal super-easy. For example, the rice bowl pictured above was something I made for my wife and myself for lunch recently. All I had to do was cook a few eggs sous-vide, defrost the pork and finish it off, and serve that with pickles (which is another thing I usually have in the fridge) and voila, easy-peasy.
Sous-Vide Char Siu
1kg Berkshire or Kurobuta pork neck (as usual, we encourage Singaporean readers to buy their meat at Huber’s Butchery)
Marinade
6 scallions, sliced into 2 inch lengths and smashed
8 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
3 tablespoons regular soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
2.5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons rich chicken stock
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Mix all the marinade ingredients together well.
Cut the pork lengthwise into strips around 2.5-3 inches wide and 2 inches or so thick. Cut strips crosswise, if needed, into pieces 6-8 inches long. Place in a large baking dish that can accomodate all the pork in one layer. Pour the marinade over the pork. Seal the dish with clingwrap overnight, at least 12 hours and up to 36 hours. Turn the pork a few times during the marinating process. Keep in the fridge.
Prepare a water bath, using an immersion circulator, and bring the water to 58 degrees Celsius.
Place each piece of pork, with some marinade, into a vacuum-sealable bag and seal at high pressure.
Drop the bags into the water bath and cook for 24 hours. Once done, prepare an ice water bath and plunge the bags of pork directly into the ice water. Once cool, dry off the bags and either freeze or put in the fridge. Or open the bags, liberate your pork, and move to the final step of finishing off the pork.
Finishing Sauce (enough for two strips)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons honey
Mix the above together and taste. It should be salty-sweet.
Preheat your oven to the highest temperature it can go. Pour some water into a roasting pan. Over the pan, place a large wire rack that fits over the top of the pan.
Brush as much of the finishing sauce onto the strips of pork. You want it thick. Lay the pork on the wire rack (and over the water in the roasting pan). Pop this in the oven for 10 minutes or until the surface of the char siu is nicely charred.
Alternatively, instead of using the oven blowtorch the pork until charred.
About Aun Koh
Aun has always loved food and travel, passions passed down to him from his parents. This foundation, plus a background in media, pushed him to start Chubby Hubby in 2005. He loves that this site allows him to write about the things he adores--food, style, travel, his wife and his three kids!
Hey Aun,
Do you usually defrost the char siu by putting it into a sous vide bath before finishing it off in the oven?
Cheers
Ben
I actually defrost overnight in the fridge if I plan ahead. If not, then yes, he likes to use the water bath. 🙂
Can I please ask if there is any reason you put water under the roasting rack? What is the consequences of not doing so?
If you don’t, when the oil drips from the meat, it tends to burn on the dry roasting pan. That creates a lot of smoke. If there’s water for the oil to drip into, it won’t.
Would you be able to sous-vide this in a slow cooker instead?
And if you use a blowtorch, will you also need a similar set up e.g. with wire rack on top of a pan filled with water?
Hi…I am keen to try your recipe, can you please tell the temperature to set for sous vide cooking.
Thanks
I used regular char siu cut from wet market butcher in HK. marinade for 36 hrs in bag and in fridge.
then leave in 57.5c waterbath for 24-25 hrs.
(noticed lots of water extracted from the meat during marinade, but i leave them on anyways for curiosity)
when done with waterbath, pat try and post searing using blow torch.
Results: the fat didnt render at 57,5%, meat was slightly stringy and dryer and overcooked than i had from commercial BBQ char siu.
( i check post searing temp on meat, it was at low 40c)
Please advise on problem? I suspect it was from marinading process?
Hi Fong, I don’t marinate in a sealed bag. I take the pork out of the marinade and then vacuum seal it. That might make the difference.
is there any reasoning behind marinating in an open bowl vs in a seal bag? curious due to the desire for less washing up 🙂
Honestly, for me it’s so I don’t waste a bag. You don’t want to cook the meet swimming in liquid. So if you do seal it in a bag with the marinade, you’ll need to cut open the bag and transfer it to a new bag.
Thanks Aun for your prompt and well thought answer.
Thanks for the great recipe, Aun!
It was with pride as I sliced through the succulent strips of pork and served it with a 63-degree egg. Only thing I didn’t manage to get was the dark, sticky crust. It could be due to the pan of water creating more of a steam effect rather than dry heat.
I cooked it in its marinade in a ziplock.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have one question though, the skin should be left on or removed at some point? Thank you!
Ann, thanks for the recipe. I’m using a pork loin, not a pork tenderloin. It’s twice as wide as a pork tenderloin. I was thinking of cutting it in half lengthwise and marinating each half separately then using my souls vide cooker. Will I need to cook this for 24 hours? That seems like long time when I see tenderloin cooked for one hour. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you, Jack
Definitely don’t cook loin for so long. Not tenderloin for that matter. The long cook time is for really tough cuts. If you look at my recipe, I call for pork neck. For a loin, suggest 55 degrees to 57 degrees at about 3-4 hours.
Hi, this recipe looks delicious. One question, I see you are already cutting the pork into strips before even marinating or cooking? Am I understanding that right? Shouldn’t it be cut after it’s done cooking and ready to serve?
Thanks
David
I put the marinade the pork in a bag seal it and sous vide the whole thing for 3+ hours , cool the pork strain the marinade,add sugar and beet juice and make a glaze . Then I take the cooled pork , put it in a 450degree oven and glaze it until it chars on the edges and serve. It’s not perfect,but it’s on the table in 4hrs and damn good
Where do you get the pork neck. I’ve been looking for it and can’t seem to find it anywhere.
Huber’s Butchery almost always has pork neck. 🙂
Hi Aun,
Awesome recipe, did it last night and was great. Question: what about finishing on grill instead of oven? You see any problem with this? Any extra tips if I do so? Also when you sous vide do you take all the marinade out so that it’s basically just the meat? I read from Jenji of ChefSteps, if I recall, that sous viding meat in liquid will actually dry it out? Thanks
Hiya, I do remove most of the liquid. That is why it’s important to marinate for a while before cooking. Thanks.
Gave this a run with my Anova, ended up in the bath for 28 hours. Texture was fantastic; great flavour from that marinade as well. Next time I will double the quantity for the finishing sauce as it was a little small. Thanks for the great recipe, Aun.
Hi Aun, what if I am using pork butt instead. How should I sous vide it?
Any advice?
Thanks for the recipe! I did this with my Anova, 60Celcius for 3 hours then sear it. It’s great!
Hi Aun. I tried your recipe to the dot. However my meat turn out to be a little hard (not melt in the mouth expectation) and slight dryness. May I know what seems to be the problem? Pork neck doesnt seem to have much fats. Mine was lean. Should I try experimenting with 3 layer pork instead?
what cook time and temps do you recommend for pork belly (iberico)?
Hi there, I made this dish last weekend using Pork from Snake River Farms and this recipe and sous vide technique. I then served it to a very discerning bunch of guys here in Washington DC. The comments ranged from “that was the best piece of meat I’ve ever eaten” to “I want to marry you”. “ Thanks for sharing the recipe, needless to say I’ve ordered more pork and will be doing this over and over again.
Was pretty good! Texture was great and fat rendered fine.
I used 2.5# of pork butt and 3x the glaze recipe which was barely enough. Next time I think I will cut down the salt in the glaze though. Just a tad bit salty for me.
How about swapping out the honey in the finishing sauce with maltose? I find it has a more neutral flavor than honey, but it’s significantly thicker; maybe thinning it with water or some other more flavorful liquid?