Char Siu — Chinese-Hawaiian BBQ Pork

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg pork butt or shoulder, cut into long strips, 5–6 cm thick
• For the marinade
• 60 ml hoisin sauce
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 60 ml honey
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 2 tbsp fermented red bean curd (or red food colouring), mashed smooth; use colouring only if curd is unavailable

Method

1. 1
   Combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, sugar, five-spice powder, and fermented red bean curd in a bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is uniform in colour. The marinade should be a deep brick-red.
2. 2
   Add the pork strips to the marinade, turning to coat every surface. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of several hours, preferably overnight. The pork should be deeply stained red on all sides before it enters the oven.
3. 3
   Bring the pork to room temperature. Arrange the strips on a rack set over a roasting tray and place in an oven preheated to high heat. Reserve the remaining marinade. Roast, basting with the reserved marinade at intervals, until the exterior is glistening, lacquered, and the edges show the first signs of charring. This is where the dish lives or dies: the high heat and the sugar in the marinade must produce a caramelised, slightly charred exterior — without this, the char siu is merely roast pork. The surface should be sticky to the eye, deeply coloured, and the char at the edges should smell of caramelised sugar and smoke rather than acrid burn.
4. 4
   Rest the pork briefly before slicing. The interior should yield to the knife with little resistance and show a pink, moist cross-section. The exterior crust should hold its lacquer without running.