Chinese-Style Barbecued Pork (Char Siu)

Char siu, the classic Cantonese sweet-and-savory roast pork, glazed with honey, hoisin, and five-spice.

⏱️ Prep: 20 min🍳 Cook: 45 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds	680 g	pork tenderloin (shoulder or butt)
2 cloves		garlic (peeled and mashed)
2 tablespoons	30 ml	Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
2 tablespoons	30 ml	hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons	30 ml	ketchup
1 1/2 tablespoons	23 ml	soy sauce
1 tablespoon	15 ml	liquid honey
2 teaspoons	10 ml	brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon	1.3 ml	five-spice powder
a few drops		red food coloring, optional

Gather the ingredients.
Cut the pork into strips approximately 2 inches wide and 5 inches long.
Smash and peel the garlic, and mash it with a mortar and pestle or with a fork.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice wine or sherry, hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, liquid honey, brown sugar, mashed garlic, and five-spice powder.
If using the red food coloring, add it now.
Place the pork in a shallow 9-inch by 13-inch glass baking dish.
Pour the marinade over. Marinate the pork in the refrigerator, covered, for 3 hours.
Remove the pork from the dish. Reserve the marinade.
Preheat the oven (425 F for pork tenderloin, 350 F for shoulder or butt).
Fill a shallow roasting pan with 1/2-inch of water and place in the bottom of the oven. Place the pork on a rack above the water.
Roast until golden brown, brushing 2 or 3 times with the reserved marinade (about 30 minutes total for a tenderloin, 45 minutes for shoulder or butt). The internal temperature of the pork should be 160 F.
Remove and cool.
When the pork is cool enough to handle, cut across the grain into 1/4-inch thick pieces.
Serve at room temperature, cold, or use it as the stuffing for steamed buns.