Char Siu

Char Siu is a popular way to flavor and prepare barbecued pork in Cantonese cuisine. It is classified as a type of siu mei, Cantonese roasted meat. It literally means "fork burn/roast" after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire.

In Hong Kong, char siu is usually purchased from a siu mei establishment, which specializes in meat dishes. These shops usually display the merchandise by hanging them in the window. As a result, char siu is often consumed alongside one of these other meat dishes when eaten as an independent lunch item on a per-person basis in a "rice box" meal. More commonly it is purchased whole or sliced and wrapped and taken home to be used in family meals either by itself or cooked into one of many vegetable or meat dishes which use char siu pork as an ingredient.

In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, char siew rice is found in many Chinese shāolà stalls along with roast duck and roast pork. It is served with slices of char siu, cucumbers, white rice and drenched in sweet gravy or drizzled with dark soy sauce. Char siu rice also popular food within the Chinese community in Medan, Indonesia, it is more called as cha sio. Char siew is called mu daeng ("red pork") in Thailand.

Char siew rice can also be found in Hainanese chicken rice stalls, where customers have a choice of having their char siew rice served with plain white rice or chicken-flavored rice, and the same choice of garlic chili and soy sauces. In the Philippines, it is known as Chinese Asado and usually eaten with cold cuts or served stuffed in siopao.

Japanese culture has adapted it as chāshū. Unlike its Chinese variant, it is prepared by rolling the meat into a log and then braising it at a low temperature. The Japanese adaptation is typically seasoned with honey and soy sauce, without the red food coloring, sugar, or five-spice powder.