Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
I recently bought some nice pork tenderloins from my friends at Wildfork Foods and wanted to turn one of them into char siu. Then I thought, why not smoke it?! It usually my answer to all of life’s problems. Smoke it. Smoking pork tenderloin is a lot different then smoking other cuts of pork. Because the are very lean and not large, there is the risk of them being over cooked. The key is to preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Get your wood chips smoking for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin and drop the heat to 185 degrees. This will allow a longer smoking time to absorb smoke without drying out. After the first hour, turn the heat back up to 250 degrees. Apply a layer of glaze every 15 minutes for the next 30 minutes. A 24oz pork tenderloin will take 90 minutes in total. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 large pork tenderloin
- 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 red bean curd cubes plus 1 tbsp of juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3/4 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3/4 tsp sesame oil
Glaze
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp marinade liquid
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory
- 1/2 cherry wood
Instructions
- Mix the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork tenderloin in a storage bag for 3 days.
- Let the pork tenderloin rest on a rack overnight before smoking. Save the marinade.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Add in your wood chips. Let smoke for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin. Decrease the temp to 185 degrees. Smoke for 1 hour.
- While the tenderloin is smoking, heat up the honey and reserved marinade in a small saucepan until the honey has dissolved.
- Brush the tenderloin with the glaze. Increase the temp to 250. Smoke for 15 minutes. Apply another layer of glaze and smoke for 15 more minutes.
- Let the tenderloin rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
