It is eaten with rice, or used as an ingredient for noodle dishes or stir fries, or as a filling for chasiu baau. In ancient times, wild boar and other available meats were cha siu bao to make char siu. The ovens used to roast char siu are usually large gas rotisseries.
The dish consists of slices of char siu, cucumbers, white rice and is drenched in sweet gravy or drizzled with dark soy sauce. In the Philippines, it is known as Chinese pork asado, but also referred to as cha siu. It is usually eaten with cold cuts or served stuffed in siopao. These restaurants in the Netherlands derived from Chinese immigrants and are made to adapt to the Dutch palate. Vegetarian char siu also exists, usually made from wheat gluten.
It can be found in vegetarian restaurants and stalls in South East Asian Chinese communities. Unlike its Chinese variant, it is prepared by rolling the meat into a log and then braising it at a low temperature. As a means of exceptional flavor and preparation, char siu applications extend beyond pork. In Hawaii, various meats are cooked char siu style. The term char siu refers to meats which have been marinated in char siu seasoning prepared either from scratch or from store-bought char siu seasoning packages, then roasted in an oven or over a fire.
International Dictionary of Food and Cooking. Siopao and Power: The Place of Pork Buns in Manila’s Chinese History”. Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Japan. Wu Chinese-speaking peoples use the traditional definition of “mantou”, which refers to both filled and unfilled buns. There are numerous styles of xiaolongbao in Jiangsu cuisine.
Shanghai-style xiaolongbao originated in Nanxiang, which was a neighboring village of Shanghai in Jiangsu that eventually ended up becoming an outer suburb of Shanghai’s Jiading District. Two specialist xiaolongbao restaurants have a particularly long history. Nanxiang but is now located in the Yu Garden area. It is famed for its crab-meat-filled buns. Chinese buns, in general, may be divided into two types, depending on the degree of leavening of the flour skin.