Variation of Char Siu (Chinese barbecued pork)
Char siu is Chinese barbecued pork and probably the best way to describe this dish. Traditionally it is strips of pork that are marinated in a mixture of honey, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, 5 spice powder, and sugar. I modified it a little bit (hello crushed red pepper and garlic) and instead of using slices of pork I chose to marinate a pork tenderloin and then grill it. While the pork was cooking I took the marinade and boiled it for a couple of minutes on the stove.
This brings me to another question for debate. I will use reserved marinades as long as I can bring them to a boil on the stove for a couple of minutes. I have never gotten sick but people look at me like I am strange for suggesting this. If you are one of them then reserve some of the marinade and use that over the stove.
For this recipe you will need:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 TB honey
- 2 TB hoisin sauce
- 1/2 TB kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- pinch of crushed red pepper
- pinch of five spice powder
Combine everything in your favorite marinating vessel (where are my trusty ziploc bags at) and place in the fridge. It is best to let he marinade work for 8-10 hours.
Due to the high sugar content of the marinade I opted for a direct/indirect heating method again. Truthfully there are very few things that I will keep over direct for an extended period of time and also one of my major problems with most grillers is that they tend to go hot and heavy. The major problem with going hot and heavy is by the time the time the internal temperature is done the outside is charred nasty unrecognizable mess.
If you need a refresher on direct/indirect heating here it is in 1/2 educated caveman terms:
- Fire go on one side
- Meat go over fire
- Meat run away from fire
- Meat stay till done
The tenderloin is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees (about 20 minutes/lb).
While the tenderloin is cooking away take either remaining marinade or your reserved marinade and bring it to a boil and reduce by 1/3.
(Insert shaky picture here because I was to lazy to put my cheapie camera on the tripod)
Once the tenderloin is done let it rest for 10 minutes, slice, and enjoy with the sauce poured over top (cilantro is growing like a weed in the garden so it is going on top of everything right now).
Okay I always do that with my marinades! Great minds think alike…he-he.
what a lovely hunk o’ meat and what an awesome marinade! i wish i had your grilling prowess. my talents start and stop with hamburgers and the occasional hot dog.
I’m mixed about marinades. On a rare occasion, I will re-use it, but mostly not…not due to safety concerns, but because usually, my marinades won’t ultimately turn into a great finished sauce. This is a different story though and it looks really simple and really tasty.
That Char Siu looks really good. I very often reserve the marinade and then cook it and serve it as a sauce. Most commonly with teriyaki sauce.
I have always wanted to make Char Sui, that looks delish!