Coming Up! Authentic Chinese Roast Pork!

Chef Tony is the guest chef in my house tonight, and he gave me directions for starting the marination on a piece of side pork I'm serving him and his charming wife, my friend Becky, tonight. Both of them grew up in Chinese restaurant families, and Chef Tony made his living cooking Chinese food for about 40 years.
"Your house will smell of this for the next five days," he promised. Great, I said. But I think that partly explains why we're making it at my house, not theirs.
So...here's the marinade for a hunk of side pork (looks like bacon, available at any Asian supermarket) weighing about 2.5 lbs.


Chef Tony's Roast Pork

2 lb piece of side pork
2 T hoisin sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee)
2 T bean sauce (Chef Tony uses Lee Kum Kee)
1 T sherry or Cognac (I used Cognac, Salignac VS)
1.5 tsp five spice powder*
about six large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1.5 T salt
pinch salt to sprinkle on top
Chinese mustard

water
Bowl for mixing marinade
Pan for marination
cast iron fry pan
heatproof rack
something to prick skin, such as an ice pick

1. In a bowl, mix the hoisin sauce, bean sauce, sherry or cognac, five spice powder, minced garlic and salt.
2. Dry the side pork thoroughly. On the meat side -- as opposed to the side with the white, thick rind or skin, make lengthwise cuts the entire length of the piece. Cut through TO the skin but not through it. Cuts should be about 1/2 inch apart.
3. Spread marinade on the meat side, making sure you get it into the cuts, all the way down to the skin or rind. Skin or rind must remain completely free of marinade.
4. Place side pork in marination pan, marinating side down. Cover with foil or plastic film and marinate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
5. (Tony says to make sure your oven is very clean before you start to cook.)
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Prick skin of side pork thoroughly all over with an ice pick. Place the meat on a rack, skin side up, over a cast iron pan holding about an inch or two of water. Sprinkle salt evenly over skin.
6. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the skin is completely crisp. To test, tap the skin firmly all over with a meat fork; if the fork does not sink into the flesh at all, notably in the middle of the piece, the last to cook, it is done.
7. Cool to room temperature. With a meat cleaver or a sharp chef's knife, cut along the lines you already created when you made slices to spread the marinade. You may cut the pieces again, crosswise, into 1" pieces if you wish.
* Available in stores carrying Chinese food products, sometimes at better grocery stores