What is that pink spice they coat chinese pork with?

Question

food colouring?? then why dont we dye all our food pink??

im disillusioned! mmm, i thought it was special chinese spice like cardamon dyes food bright yellow, etc. pfft.

Answer 1

Sweet and sour sauce.

Answer 2

You don't really want to know.......

Answer 3

You must be talking about Char Siew.

The pink is a mixture of sugar, honey, hosin sause, and food colouring.

Answer 4

It is a food coloring.It has I believe some numbers!! Don't worry you are not going to die right away!!

Answer 5

If you're referring to Chinese BBQ pork, believe it or not... the pink coloring is from ketchup or food coloring.

I don't know why restaurants do that... Red is a good luck color in Chinese culture.  I wonder if that's the symbolism.

Another food that seems artifically colored is Tandori chicken.  For some reason, Indian restaurants serve Tandori chicken with a reddish tinge.  Actually to me it looks neon red... lol.

Edit... I'm sorry to burst your bubble.  

Here's a recipe that looks decent.  I would also add 1/2 teaspoon of Five Spice Powder (a little goes a long way) and not worry about the brandy or bean sauce, especially if I didn't have any.

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/pork/r/c...

Edit 2...

Usually I see the pink coloring on roasted meats...  For roasted meats, the general term is Siu Mei (Roasted Meat).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siu_mei

Chinese bbq pork: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siew

Edit 3...

Roast duck (and roasted pork) is not pink since the roasting imparts a naturally golden hue.  (I'm drooling just thinking about roasted duck)  :-D :::

Answer 6

I suppose color is a subjective thing because it sure looks lurid red to me, rather than pink. And it comes from Chinese red food coloring (believed to be natural though not sure derived from what, maybe cochineal insects same as Western food coloring), certainly not ketchup as suggested by someone since ketchup will change the taste.

As for Chinese roasted duck, the color comes from the roasting, not food coloring. The color is more of a deep red-brown.

But there are some Chinese dishes that are red in color naturally. One example is through the use of fermented Chinese red rice wine lees (ang chow) that uses natural red rice for its color. It's a Fuzhou / Foochow dialect group specialty.

Regarding Chinese BBQ pork or char siew (aka cha siu, cha shao), I've always found that the best tasting ones are not the usual red-colored stuff but without the red coloring added & using pork cuts that are about 50:50 lean & fat meat. This style of BBQ pork is simply melt in the mouth, and a hallmark of places like Hong Kong & also Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Answer 7

Spicypinkchinesedeadpiggyjuice.

Answer 8

you can find a packet of char siu in your local asian market.  here is a link to show you a picture of what it looks like.  im not sure if there are other brands...this is the one im familiar with:

http://www.amazon.com/NOH-Seasoning-Chin...

there is another name that my family uses.  i don't know what language it is or where it came from.  they call the sauce cawyuk (i could be spelling it completely wrong!  it's pronounce cow-yook.)  im from hawaii...maybe only people there call it cawyuk.  

take care and aloha!

Answer 9

It is called Char Sui and it is a Chinese Barbecue Sauce

Chinese Barbecue Sauce (Char Sui)

Traditional Chinese barbecue sauce doesn't contain tomatoes, but it does have a lot of flavor. This thick sauce works perfectly on any grilled or smoked foods, but like most barbecue sauces, can burn because of the sugar content, so use it only at the end of cooking.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup sherry

2/3 cup hoisin sauce

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teapoons black bean paste

1 1/2 teaspoon chinese 5-spice powder

1 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:

Combine all ingredients in a double boiler and simmer for 10 minutes or until it begins to thicken. Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator.

Answer 10

Char Siew

The meat, typically a shoulder cut, is seasoned with a mixture of honey, five-spice powder, fermented tofu, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red food colouring (optional) and sherry or rice wine(optional). These seasonings turn the exterior layer of meat dark red, similar to the "smoke ring" of American barbecues. Maltose may be used to give char siu its characteristic shiny glaze.

Edit

Roast duck and Peking duck are basted in Hoi Sin sauce. Recipe in link below. If you see them hanging in food court displays they also still have the head and neck attached. Not for the faint-hearted

Answer 11

We refer the colour as dark red and it is from Hoisin sauce, a kind of sweet soy bean paste. Good roast pork (Char siu) would not be prepared with food colouring but fresh (not frozen) meat and marinated with, freshly grated spices and good quality of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rose wine  for at least 5 to 6 hours then be charcoal grilled.

And Char Siu is Cantonese means - grill / roast (BBQ).

The roast / grill items on the menu are known as "siu may" in Cantonese.

Roast Duck is another different story.  Below is a video for you to enjoy a Peking duck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfPv5KUfw...