Char Siu Pork

Char siu (Chinese: pinyin: chāshāo; Cantonese Yale: chāsīu) is a Cantonese style of barbecued pork.

Your options are:

Pork loin;
Pork belly, juicier and fattier;
Pork butt (shoulder), leaner;
Pork neck end, well marbled (jyu geng yuk).

The shoulder or the neck end for that juiciness without too much fat or being dry and overcooked are the best of the selection.

The first thing to note here is not the preparation time or the cooking time, but the marination duration of up to 2 days!

Avoid red food colouring to make the pork red, this is how you might be served it in an Asian takeaway. Authentic Char Siu uses red bean curd for colouring and a touch of flavour. Asian supermarkets readily sell it, as do online stores, use about 2 tbsp of the liquid and no red food colouring is required.