Source: Stephen Raichlen, Project Smoke
This is a recipe made to be stuffed into buns. Go here for baked (Japanese Milk Bread buns) or here for steamed (mantou style).
Ingredients
Pork Rub
- 2 lbs pork tenderloin*
- 3 Tbs turbinado or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbs Chinese Five Spice powder
- 1 Tbs ground white pepper
Marinade
- 3 Tbs honey
- 3 Tbs soy sauce
- 2 Tbs oyster sauce
- 1 Tbs sesame oil, preferably dark
- 1 Tbs hoisin
Directions
- Make rub: combine all ingredients in your primary bowl and stir.
- Make marinade: Mix all ingredients in an auxiliary bowl and stir.
- Cut pork with grain into 8″ strips and pat dry. Place in the main bowl with the rub and toss to coat thoroughly.
- Pour marinade over now-coated pork and turn strips to coat. Cover pork and marinate 6-8 hours minimum (12 hrs max) in the refrigerator.
If smoking: Set up smoker to 225F and add wood as specified by manufacturer. Oil the smoker rack. Drain the pork, reserving the marinade, and place directly on the rack to smoke for 1 hour. Bring the marinade to a boil over high heat and cook 3 mins. Let cool slightly.
Brush pork on all sides with marinade and continue smoking to an internal temp of 160F (15-30 min more). Remove pork from smoker.
If oven: Adjust rack position to the upper third** and preheat oven to 475F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil, then spray or brush the roasting rack with oil.
Pour 1.5 C water into the roasting pan and put rack in place. Lay pork strips onto the rack, leaving space between pieces for circulation. Reserve the marinade. Transfer pork to oven.
Roast 25 mins, but turn oven temp down to 375 F after the first 10 minutes.***
While the pork cooks, combine the reserved marinade with 3 Tbs of honey (or maltose, pretty much any light invert sugar will do – not molasses) and bring to a boil over high heat for 3 min. Now it can be used as a baste or sauce.
After 25 min, flip pork, baste, and rotate pan 180 degrees. If bottom of the pan has boiled dry, add more water. Roast another 15 mins. Flip, baste, and rotate. Roast 10 more mins (total time 50 min).
At this point, the pork should be caramelized on the edges and fully cooked. (Temp to 145F, 3 mins carryover heat should bring it to 160F. You can run it under the broiler for a couple of minutes if you want it crispier, but keep an eye on it because the sugars in the marinade can burn quickly. Remove from oven.
Notes
* You can also use boneless country style ribs; it’s a close enough cut to tenderloin and much more economical.
**You can also do two trays; just put an oven rack in the bottom third position.
***I have completely forgotten to turn the temp down until the 25 min mark and it wasn’t noticeably drier. Don’t panic if you forget to do it at the 10 minute mark.
