Char Siu Pork Belly: A Reliable Fridge Staple

I like to be ready. For me that means keeping something versatile in the fridge: a reliable “mothership” ingredient that can be turned into several meals when everyone suddenly gets hungry. Char siu pork belly is exactly that kind of ingredient — huge, glossy chunks of meat marinated and grilled to sticky, savoury-sweet perfection, ready to slice, serve, or tuck into sandwiches and stir-fries.

When buying meat I often choose a slightly larger joint than strictly necessary, thinking ahead to leftovers. The same philosophy applies here: I prepare more char siu pork than I need, because having slices of glazed pork belly on hand is genuinely useful. Many parts of the pig can be prepared as char siu, but pork belly is my preferred cut. It has the right balance of meat and fat so the exterior can char while the interior stays moist and succulent.

Start with a large slab of pork belly, around a kilo or more. Remove and keep the skin: it can be transformed into crisp crackling and should not be wasted. Trim the skin away from the meat, leaving as much fat as possible on the meat so it will render and caramelise under the grill. If your cut comes with bones, trim them off and keep them to marinate and roast separately — they make excellent small spare ribs for the cook.

To make crackling, salt the skin well, place it in a tray and roast until it shatters under the slightest pressure. That crispy pork skin is a great bonus to have alongside the meat.

Slice the pork belly into thick strips, roughly four or five centimetres across. Make alternating, opposing diagonal cuts across the surface of each strip so the meat opens up and presents a larger surface area for the marinade to penetrate. This scoring helps the flavours infuse and speeds up caramelisation on the outside.

The marinade is straightforward and full of classic char siu flavours. In a large bowl combine:

• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons ground yellow bean sauce
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon salt

Turn the pork repeatedly in the marinade until it’s fully coated, then cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours, preferably overnight. Turn the meat occasionally so the marinade distributes evenly. If you kept any bones, treat them the same way and let them soak up the flavours for a few hours.

To roast, arrange the marinated pork strips on a wire rack placed over a roasting tray. Leave space between each piece so the heat circulates, and pour a little water into the bottom of the tray to keep the environment moist and catch drippings. Roast at 190°C for about 30 minutes, then use tongs to turn the strips and baste them with more marinade. Return to the oven for another 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked through and the fat is beginning to char and blister.

For the finishing touch, brush the cooked pork with a little honey to add gloss and a final note of sweetness, then slice and serve hot. Leftovers are extremely useful — cooled char siu is brilliant in stir-fries, fried rice, sandwiches, bao, or simply served cold as part of a salad or snack.

This approach to char siu pork belly is deliberately generous: make more than you need, and you’ll thank yourself later when you can pull out perfectly seasoned slices from the fridge. Preserve the crackling, use the bones, and let the marinade do the work. The result is classic, richly flavoured Chinese barbecue pork you can rely on for many quick meals.

Recipe notes: the method and proportions here are inspired by traditional approaches to Chinese barbecue pork. Use good-quality hoisin and yellow bean sauce for the best flavour, and resist trimming away too much fat — that rendered fat is the secret to juicy char siu pork belly.