Cha shao is the name of the familiar red roast Chinese pork. This is the version that I've been cooking for decades; it comes from Kenneth Lo's “Chinese Cooking”.

Ingredients

quantity		ingredient
1 kg		pork fillet
40 ml		peanut oil
40 ml		honey
80 ml		soya sauce
20 g		sugar
40 ml		sherry
1.5 g		pepper
1 g		cinnamon
6 g		garlic, crushed
3 g		salt

Alternative marinade (February 2009):

quantity		ingredient		step
50 ml		dark soya sauce		1
100 ml		light soya sauce		1
40 ml		rice wine or sherry		1
20 ml		sesame oil		1
10 ml		red colouring		1
50 g		sugar		1

Preparation

1. Slice pork along grain into strips about 15 cm long, 4 cm wide and 3 cm thick.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade well, add it to the pork in a deep dish and let stand for 2 hours, turning the pork every 15 minutes.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 220°. Drain the pork (keeping marinade for further use), and place the strips across the rack over a roasting-pan containing some water to catch the drips, to roast for 12 minutes. Brush the pork strips with marinade and peanut oil (or sesame oil). Return the pork to the oven to cook at 175°, for 10 minutes. Brush pork with honey and roast for a further 5 minutes.
4. When ready to serve, slice pork strips against the grain into 5 mm slices.

Eat with mustard or soya-chilli dips, or use for preparing other dishes.