How to Make Chashu: From China's Char Siu to Japan's Chashu

If you've ever stared at that perfect circular slice of pork on ramen and wondered how it gets that juicy, layered look — this is the article for you.

At Baba Ramen, we've been making chashu from scratch inside our Tokyo ramen school every single day, and in our latest video we break down every step, every decision, and the history behind why Japanese chashu isn't the same as Chinese char siu.

This isn't a shortcut recipe. This is the real thing.

Why Chashu Is Different From Char Siu

The first character cha means fork. Su means roasted. Char siu is fork-roasted barbecue you see hanging in Chinese shops — roast duck, roast chicken, char siu smoking for a long time. More barbecue, more sweet.

Rairaiken was the first shop to adapt Chinese soup and noodles to Japanese taste. That's where chashu was born. The Japanese method for ramen is quicker and shoyu-based. We roll pork belly so fat runs in layers through the meat, then braise it in shoyu tare with sake and mirin.

Pork Belly Anatomy: The Step Everyone Skips

We work from a small slab for class. Two problem areas: the rib cage side where the bone was — rough, uneven — and the skirt steak, a separate muscle that cooks at a different time.

We feel the meat first, no gloves. We trim the rib roughness down, we pull the skirt off, and we trim fat from the rib side down. We don't take all the fat, we flatten the slab so the roll is even. If it's uneven now, it will be uneven rolled. For class we cut the slab in half.

Rolling and Tying: Fat Outside, Meat Inside

We roll with the meatier end inside and the fattier rib side outside. We roll tight because it loosens as it cooks.

For belly we tie with kako ito chashu string. Anchor one end, go against the roll first, then loop back with the roll so it pulls tighter. Keep wraps even, one direction only. Net is faster and fine for shoulder or neck where size is even. For belly, string holds the cylinder better.

Chashu is always served cold to hold that shape — heat it too fast and it unfurls.

Chashu Tare: The 2-2-1-1 Base

This is a shoyu braise. We use drinking sake from Nagatoro, not cooking sake. Mirin is high-quality sweetened sake around 13%. Shoyu is Yamasa regular + light, plus our Baba Shoyu Tare aged 2+ years.

Aromatics are all cut to similar size for even extraction — negi greens + whites, ginger, garlic split with skin on, and kombu broken small for pressure-cooker surface area.

Pressure Cooker vs. Traditional: The Trade-off

At the school we pack rolls tight so they're covered, then cook on full blast 60 minutes from the whistle. After that we leave it in the liquid and let it cool naturally. It goes deeper overnight.

Book method for home without pressure: pot with inner drop lid to keep submerged, boil 90 minutes to 2 hours, more than a simmer but not a hard burn, then cool in liquid.

Never Waste It

This liquid is gold. Chill it overnight, fat lifts to a solid layer, lift it off for a cleaner tare. Then reuse it for ajitama, fried rice, chashu-don ends, or blended at around 30% into a fast-use shoyu tare. We never mix it into our 2-year aged tare — that one we keep separate. It goes off fast because of the fat, so chill and use quickly.

Slicing and Serving Fresh

Best part is tasting it fresh. You can't get that in a shop. Chill the roll 12 hours minimum, take string off after chilled, then slice thin in one pull. No sawing, like sashimi. In the shop we use a slicer for clean lines. Ends are fatty — we dice those for staff chashu-don with thin negi. Blowtorch optional for smoke and heat.

The Recipe - (40 Servings)

• Pork Belly: 1kg

• Shoyu tare: 600ml

• Shoyu (mix Light and normal): 480ml

• Sake: 240ml

• Mirin: 240ml

• Garlic Bulb: 9 cloves

• Ginger Root: 6 slices

• Green Negi Stem: 3x 10cm stalks

• Konbu: 2x 12cm pieces

  
  

  1. Split pork belly wide enough to roll. Roll each piece and tie tightly with string to make a round, longer and thinner than roast.

  
  

  2. Mix Shoyu Tare, Shoyu, Sake and Mirin together for Chashu Tare.

  
  

  3. Pack meat tight in pot with space for tare to flow. Pour tare to completely cover meat.

  
  

  4. Peel and slice ginger, split garlic in two. Add ginger, garlic and negi to pot.

  
  

  5. Heat on medium to boiling.

  
  

  6. Cover with smaller inner lid to keep meat submerged.

  
  

  7. Reduce heat to keep boiling, not hard burn but more than simmer. Boil 90 minutes to 2 hours. Remove and allow to cool in liquid.

  
  

  8. Store liquid for next day's tare. Next day remove fat from surface before re-using.

  
  

  9. Top up with water and a little sake each time. Always add fresh garlic, ginger and negi.

  
  

  10. Blowtorch before serving for grilled flavour if you want.

  
  

Watch the Full Breakdown

Everything above is covered step by step in our Chashu Educational video — trimming rib and skirt, rolling fat-out, tying with kako ito vs net, building the tare, 60-minute pressure cook, clarifying fat, and slicing thin.

Watch on our YouTube @BabaRamen

Want to Learn in Person?

We teach chashu making — alongside every other element of a complete bowl — inside our Tokyo ramen school. Whether you're a home cook, an aspiring chef, or just a serious ramen lover, our Express 2.5h and Signature 4h classes give you knowledge you can only get inside a working kitchen.

Book at babaramen.com