Honey roast pork, or char siu in Cantonese, is one of iconic dishes of Cantonese cuisine. It is a type of “siu mei”, which is a general term for roasted meats (typically roasted pork, duck, or chicken). “Char siu” itself literally translates into “forked roast”, which alludes to how it is prepared traditionally – strips of pork that is skewered and roasted over a fire. In fact, a rough benchmark for how “authentic” a Chinese restaurant is can be determined by how the “siu mei” is served. If it is skewered up and prominently displayed in the front window, that is usually a good sign of the quality of the food served in the restaurant.

Nowadays, it is very easy to make your own roasted pork at home now with pre-made Chinese Barbecue sauce. But since I have all the necessary types of sauces at home, I decided to make the sauce from scratch.  After marinating for 8 hours and roasting in the oven for 45 minutes, the meat was still very tender and flavorful.  I thought the color also looks great without using any food coloring.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon rose cooking wine - 玫瑰露酒 or rice wine
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 4 tablespoons honey
• dash of salt
• 1 square/bricks Red Fermented Bean Curd 南乳
• 1/2 teaspoon Five Spice powder
• 0.7 lb of pork tenderloin

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients above except pork in a small bowl.
2. Pour the marinade over the pork. Allow the pork to marinate for at least 8 hours in refrigerator, preferably overnight for the best flavor. (You may want to pierce the pork with a fork to allow the marinade to seep as deep as possible into the pork.)
3. Place the pork on a roasting grill rack/pan.  Roast for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. Make sure you have some kind of pan underneath to catch the drippings.
4. Flip it over, apply 1/2 teaspoon honey and roast for another 10 minutes.
5. Apply 1/2 teaspoon honey and roast for 5 more minutes.
6. Let the pork sit for 15 minutes or until cool before slicing into bite sized pieces.
7. The liquid left from the marinade can be cooked and used as a dipping sauce.