Cooking to me is like doing organic chemistry…fun. This week I was in the mood for some Chinese BBQ pork. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, hanging in display cases at your Asian grocery store. My initial thought was to use the pre-packaged marinade since it’s what I grew up eating. But I also wanted to create my own marinade because to me, homemade is always better. In comes the “experiment” part. I tested a few different versions of my homemade marinade and compared it to the pre-packaged marinade, and here’s what I found.

What is Chinese BBQ pork?

This is a Cantonese style BBQ. The spice contains 5-spice, fermented tofu, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sherry or rice wine. The main protein is usually pork or duck. If you visit an Asian grocery store, you’ll see racks of red colored hanging pork and whole duck, which were made using the cha-sui marinade.

Chinese BBQ pork using packaged marinade

What does it taste like?

When done correctly, Chinese BBQ pork has a sweet yet savory taste. The savory comes from the main spice, 5-spice along with onion and garlic. The sweet comes from the sugar. Since I’m going to use the store bought marinade, I figured why not give the dry marinade a taste. After all, how the marinade tastes will determine how the end product tastes.

When you open a package of store-bought marinade, it looks like bright reddish-pink sand. The dry marinade doesn’t have much flavor to it. It is definitely sweet with just a hint of 5-spice and hardly any salt or any other ingredients stated on the package.

How to make Chinese BBQ pork?

First thing is to make sure you get a good quality piece of pork. You want to have some fat in the pork to help it stay juicy. Second is to use a flavorful marinade.

Packaged Chinese BBQ pork marinade

Crock pot method

My first attempt was to marinade the pork using the store bought marinade, with salt and pepper. Place the marinade in the crock pot and let it cook until it’s done. To be honest, the taste was nothing amazing the first day. However, if you’re a fan of left overs, the taste does improve slightly as it sits in the fridge.

Oven method

Instead of using the crock pot, you can also cook the marinaded pork on a rack in the oven. This is the traditional, preferred method. The end product was nothing spectacular. I couldn’t taste anything but the slight sweetness in the pork.

After using the packaged marinade in the crock pot and the oven, I’d have to say, I prefer the crock pot method on the second or third day.

Homemade Chinese BBQ pork marinade

Oven method

After trying the packaged marinade and found it to be eh, I decided to make my own Chinese BBQ pork marinade using a few simple ingredients. These are the same ingredients that are listed on the store-bought package. Minus the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and vegetable oil.

5-spice powder
pepper
salt
garlic powder
onion powder
sugar
soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce
vegetable oil.

If you’re going for the dry rub, you can omit the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and oyster sauce. However, I believe the sauces add more depth to the marinade and therefore enhances the flavor of the cooked pork. So to me, they are a must. After all the ingredients are combined, I marinade the pork overnight. Then placed them on a rack and cook them at 350^oF until they are done. Usually it’s when the internal temperature is 145^oF.

As you’ve noticed, I did not use any red food coloring in the marinade so the cooked pork lacks that bright red color, but more importantly, it is so full of flavors. No need to drown the cooked pork in condiments. The homemade marinade also produced a more juicy and tender cooked piece of pork.

Instead of cooking this marinaded pork in the oven, you can certainly cook it in the crock pot.

Packaged marinade or homemade marinade?

Now that I’ve made and tasted both types of marinade, I prefer the homemade marinade. To me, homemade is always better.

How to serve xả xíu?

There are a few different ways to serve Chinese BBQ pork. One is to thinly sliced it and serve it on top of Jasmine rice and a side of sliced cucumbers. You can also thinly slice the pork and make a sandwich using a toasted baguette. Top the sandwich with cilantro, cucumbers and a dash of soy sauce. Or my favorite is to wrap these in some butter lettuce and topped with pickled daikon radish & carrots.

Storing left overs

There are no special storage requirements. I store my left overs in an air tight containers in the fridge and they last over a week. But then I’m convince it’s because I wash my meat using salt beforehand 😂.

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