Maltose, honey, soy ratio and application timing - including the second-glaze trick that gives restaurant char siu its mirror shine.
Enter pork weight, pick marinade style, cut, and method. The card shows ingredients scaled to your pork weight plus roasting schedule.
Char siu recipes vary 3x in maltose content depending on whether you want Cantonese honey flavor or Hong Kong candy-crunch. Most online recipes ignore this and produce either a dull brown or a burnt-sugar mess. The second-glaze step is what gives restaurant char siu the glassy mirror shine.
Home cooks making char siu for the first time. Anyone whose char siu came out either dry or candy-hard. People trying to replicate a specific Cantonese BBQ shop.
Maltose is the secret. It caramelizes at a lower temperature than sugar and gives that brittle, glassy crust. Honey works in a pinch but burns faster. Red fermented tofu (hong fu ru) is the color source - not food coloring. The marination time of 4-24 h is essential; less than 4 h and the pork tastes like surface glaze, not flavor throughout.
Oven behavior varies wildly. Convection runs 20% faster; please adjust. Restaurant char siu uses a vertical rotisserie oven that is hard to replicate at home.
Can I skip the maltose? Use 1.5x honey instead. Crust will be slightly less glassy.
Why is my char siu dry? Tenderloin dries fast. Use shoulder for forgiving results.
Why isn't it red enough? Skipped the red fermented tofu. That's the color source.