Off the Map

There are many types of Cantonese barbeque meat. Just looking at the boneless category, my two favorites are Char Siu 叉燒 and Pork Neck BBQ 炭燒豬頸肉. I am also curious what are their differences besides the cut (shoulder butt vs pork neck), how air-fryer and oven baked them differently. It turns out their main difference is the sauce (char siu sauce vs hoisin sauce, honey vs fish sauce). As for cooking method for Pork Neck BBQ, we prefer air-fryer because it gives less greasy texture and also nicer dark red color. I will try air-frying and baking char siu at the same time next time!!!

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QUICK TAKEAWAYS

• marinate overnight or longer in fridge, at least 6 hours
• sauce main difference: use of Hoisin sauce for pork neck vs char siu sauce for char siu
• baking main difference: flip pork neck more often because it is thinner than pork shoulder butt
• pork neck oven vs air-fryer:
  • if cook the same time, air-fryer did make pork neck less greasy (I can see how much oil was left in the tray) and gives a more crisp texture; on the other hand, oven-baked pork neck was more juicy but also more greasy.
  • air-fryer’s color is darker, redder than oven-baked
  • air-fryer is definitely SO MUCH faster saving the preheating (20mins) time of oven!
• if you prefer oven or do not have an air-fryer:
  • bake for longer time, another 6mins each side with brushing marinating sauce
  • slice out fat before baking

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RECIPE

Pork Neck BBQ 500g	Cantonese Char Siu 500g
Pork Neck	Pork shoulder/pork belly
1tbsp soy sauce 生抽	1tbsp soy sauce 生抽
1tbsp oyster sauce 蠔油	1tbsp oyster sauce 蠔油
1tbsp rice wine/rose water 料酒/玫瑰露酒	1tsbp rice wine/rose water 料酒/玫瑰露酒
1tbsp fermented bean curd 腐乳	1tbsp fermented bean curd 腐乳
1tbsp Hoisin sauce 海鮮醬	2tbsp Char Siu sauce 叉燒醬
1/2 – 1tbsp fish sauce 魚露 (Thai flavor kick)
1/2tbsp brown sugar	1tbsp honey 蜂蜜
1/2 whole garlic –> minced	1/2 whole garlic –> minced 1tbsp minced ginger 2 shallots –> minced
Oven: 445F/220-230C, 6mins, brush, flip, 6mins Air-Fryer: 355F/180C, 4mins, brush, flip, 4mins	400F, 15mins brush and flip 400F, 15mins brush and flip (if not golden, broil for 5mins)

Step 1: mix marinating ingredients together, mix well; marinate meat over night in fridge or at least 6 hours.

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Step 2: next day, preheat oven and air-fryer

Step 3: remove all solid marinate ingredients (minced garlic, ginger, shallots) to prevent burning in oven

Step 4: put pork on a cooling rack with baking pan at the bottom, so the oil can drip down; or put foil under pork on cooling rack, poke holes on foil for oil to drip down

Step 5: bake for minutes indicated above, bring out and brush both sides with either marinating sauce or honey/syrup

• marinating sauce will give lighter color than honey/syrup after baking

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Step 6: if pork’s color is not as bright/red as expected, broil at high temperature for 5mins.

Step 7: bring char siu out and slice with tilted angle (rather than perpendicular to cutting board) into pieces

READY TO SERVE!!

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RESOURCES

Pork Neck BBQ

Char Siu (oven)

Char Siu (air-fried)

Char Siu (rice cooker!)