Char Siew Cheney

(really Renee's Char Shiew from shiokadelicious! He's fabulous. Check him out.)

Warning: Overnight marinade and 30 min warmup

Music: O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.**

Approx. 1 kg of pork (shoulder or tenderloin)
5 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
5 generous tablespoons maltose (or honey, but maltose preferred)
4 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
4 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
3-4 pieces ginger, peeled and smashed
3-4 cloves garlic, whole and smashed
red food color

Glaze (optional):
2 tablespoons maltose, warmed

• Clean the pork and remove the skin.

• In a medium saucepan, combine all the marinade ingredients (light soy sauce through to garlic). Heat the mixture for one minute, to allow the sugar and maltose to dissolve. Let cool.

• Place a few tablespoons of the marinade into a small bowl, and add a small amount of food color. Stir to dissolve completely. Pour the colored marinade back into the main mixture, and mix thoroughly. Check color intensity, and repeat the steps as necessary until the desired intensity of red coloring is achieved.

• Add the pork to the marinade and allow it to macerate in the refrigerator for anywhere between four hours to overnight. Stir occasionally to ensure all sides of the meat are well-covered with marinade. [I only managed to marinate my pork for about 2 hours, and it worked fine.]

• Remove the marinated pork from the fridge about 20-30 minutes before cooking, to allow it to come back to room temperature.

• Preheat the oven to 210C or 410F.

• Line a roasting pan with foil and place a rack in it.

• Place the pork lengthwise on the rack. [I also added about ½ inch of hot water to the bottom of the roasting pan just to help keep the meat moist. This is optional.] Put it in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes (about 10 minutes for the tenderloin and 15 for the shoulder).

• Baste the meat with the marinade and turn it over. Reduce the heat to 180C or 360F, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

• Baste the pork again and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Check for doneness. [My tenderloin was done in about 25 minutes or so in total, and the shoulder about 40 minutes or so.]

• This is an optional step: if more of the charred bits, so characteristic of store-bought char siew, are desired, let the cooked pork cool for 2-3 minutes after it comes out of the oven, then brush with the warm maltose. Place the pork under the broiler/grill for 2-4 minutes, turning a few times, until some parts of the pork become slightly charred and crispy.

• Alternately, after the pork comes out of the oven, brush a layer of the marinade (be sure to bring the marinade to a boil and cook it through first though, as it has had raw pork sitting in it) over the meat, and leave to cool and dry for about 10 minutes before slicing the pork. This will give the char siew that final glossy, shiny finish.

**Alternative music choice: anything from this list. Like the perennial favorite: "Never forget Mao's Kindness (or You'll be Sent to a Reeducation Camp)."