Main Course/ Recipes

Char Siu Experiment, Hoisin Pork Results


Last week I posted a one-off with a photo of some char siu chicken legs we had in Kauai. I don’t know what the secret to char siu is aside from the red food coloring, but I’m determined to crack it. I went to Uwajimaya yesterday to check out the jarred and packet marinades and see what was in those, but the plan was to make the marinade myself. So, while some Chowhounders said there’s no way a restaurant uses ketchup and hoisin, an old recipe in the Honolulu Star Bulletin said different.


While at Uwajimaya, I did look for the wet bean curd called for in the recipe, but couldn’t find it. I didn’t intend to add the red food coloring, so I knew this guy was going to come out brown rather than the technicolor red/pink of the original. Fine, no problem. It was more a flavor I was looking for anyway.

Though everyone calls for pork butt or shoulder, I wasn’t going to commit 3 or 5 pounds of meat to an experiment, mostly because we’re a small household and we’d be eating the results until the next millenium. I love char siu, but a girl’s gotta know her limitations. My pork tenderloin was about a pound and a quarter, so I cut the sugar to 1/4 c. and everything else in half. I let it marinate for 20 hours in a ziploc bag in the fridge. I baked it on a rack on a cookie sheet (sorry, no hanging it from the oven rack) for 45 minutes at 350F and an additional 10 at 300F. When I pulled it out of the oven it was about 165F, very well done for a tenderloin, but it didn’t come out tough or dry.


I bought some pre-made char siu at the market so you can see it side-by-side. And in taste, I have to tell you, all I taste in the char siu from the market is pork, and maybe red, if you can say red is a flavor. It’s not even as flavorful as the marinade they used at Foodland. So while this is a perfectly delicious pork preparation — it’s hoisin pork, not char siu. If you’ve got good weather, I’d throw this on the barbecue rather than baking it, you’ll get some nice carmelization from the hoisin and sugar.

As experiments go, this one yielded something entirely delicious on it own, but char siu-wise, I’ve got work to do on the marinade. Is the secret that wet bean curd? Maybe it’s the brand of 5-spice? I’ll report back if I hit on something. In the meantime, if you figure it out, let me know.

Hoisin-Glazed Barbecue Pork

Ingredients

  • 1 pork tenderloin, about 1-1.5 lbs.
  • 1/4 c. sugar
  • 2 T. hoisin sauce
  • 2 T. ketchup
  • 1 t. Chinese 5-spice
  • 1 T. salt
  • 1 T. sesame oil
  • 1 T. brandy

Instructions

1

Trim the pork of its silver skin and any extra fat. In a large Ziploc bag, mix together the sugar, hoisin, ketchup, 5-spice, salt, sesame oil and brandy. Add the pork and give it a good massage to work in the flavors. Let marinate at least overnight to 1 day.

2

If baking, preheat the oven to 350F and put a cooling rack on a baking sheet. Set the pork on the cooling rack and set the marinade aside. Bake the pork for 45 minutes and then reduce the heat to 300F. Baste the pork with some of the remaining marinade and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove the pork from the oven and let cool.

3

Slice the pork on the bias to serve.

Notes

Adapted from the Honolulu Star Bulletin

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  • Yvonne
    April 19, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Ketchap is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce do you think that is what they meant? I’m going to give this a try it looks ono

  • Chris Springsteen
    March 30, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    what do you use if you have no brandy?

    • Michelle
      March 31, 2013 at 7:59 am

      Hi Chris – Bourbon would also work. It’s only 1 T., so if you want to omit the booze entirely, you can. Thanks for stopping by!

  • Anna
    March 3, 2013 at 7:27 am

    Was the salt supposed to be 1t? 1T is way to much

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  • Bron Squire
    March 13, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Thanks for sharing, I’m going to try this later in the week. Just one question, as I’m in Australia, can you please confirm if by “ketchup” you mean tomato sauce?

    • Michelle
      March 14, 2012 at 12:15 pm

      Hi Bron – Yes, it’s tomato sauce. I use Heinz Ketchup here in the States, which I hear they’re trying to promote as a separate product to their tomato sauce in Australia, so you may want to compare the two…not sure if it’s just a marketing thing, or the ingredients are actually different. Let me know how it comes out!

  • Danguole
    March 13, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    Oh wow. This is easily the most mouthwatering thing I’ve seen on Tastespotting today. 🙂

  • Karen S
    March 13, 2012 at 9:12 am

    I have a book on dim sum and in their char siu they use hoisin sauce,
    catsup ( spelling in book ), sugar, salt, dark soy sauce, and salt peter.

  • Kathy
    March 13, 2012 at 7:57 am

    You need to let char siu marinate long enough for the flavors to come through. I go at least overnight, sometimes even 24 hours. Otherwise you essentially just have a sauce on top of the meat with no flavor getting through.

  • baobabs
    March 13, 2012 at 1:31 am

    this looks delish!!! everytime i make char siu i make them a little burnt for that smokey charred flavour. sometimes it gets a little too dry!
    your version looks so tender and lovely!

  • telesma
    March 12, 2012 at 11:26 pm

    No ketchup. Hoisin, dark soy sauce, fermented red bean curd chunk, honey or light brown sugar, 5 spice, garlic, splash of dark rice wine. I never measure. Marinate overnight then grill or broil.

  • Jackie
    March 12, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    Wow, this looks amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. I hesitated before in getting Chinese 5 spice, but I’ve finally found the recipe that’s worth investing in another jar in my kitchen. This reminds me so much of my weekly visits to Chinatown growing up.

    • Michelle
      March 12, 2012 at 9:46 pm

      Even at Uwajimaya, my local Asian grocer, there was 5-spice that cost less than a buck and $6.00. I aimed for the middle. Thanks for stopping by, Jackie!

  • Sarah
    March 12, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    Even if it wasn’t what you were expecting – it looks delicious!

    • Michelle
      March 12, 2012 at 9:44 pm

      Thanks! And thanks for stopping by!

  • Lien
    March 12, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    You need Chinese 5 spice. Not one Chinese family I know uses ketchup, or are you making a Hawaiian dish?

    • Michelle
      March 12, 2012 at 2:24 pm

      Agreed, Lien! Which means I omitted it when I posted the recipe. I’ve updated the recipe…1 t. Chinese 5-spice.

  • Nicole, RD
    March 12, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    I think the weather calls for dusting off the grill and this may need to be the first thing that gets over that smoky heat – YUM!

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