Crispy Roast Pork Belly

Crispy Roast Pork Belly

　　Method 1

　　Ingredients:

　　　　Ingredients: Pork belly (10 inches wide by 15 inches long), rose wine, five-spice powder, coarse salt

　　Method:

　　　　1- Wash the pork belly

　　2- Rub an appropriate amount of rose wine, five-spice powder, and salt on it (excluding the skin)

　　3- Flip the pork belly over, skin side up, then spread a thick layer of...

　　4- Preheat the oven to 240°C, place the prepared pork in the oven and roast with both top and bottom heat until you see the thick layer of salt on the skin start to curl upwards. Remove the pork, brush off the salt, then pierce the skin with a fork (the denser the piercing, the crispier the resulting skin will be)

　　5- Once the entire piece of pork belly skin has been pierced, put it back in the oven and roast using only the top heat until the skin turns golden brown and crispy, then remove

　　6- Slice while hot

　　Method 2

　　Ingredients:

　　 Crispy Roast Pork Belly

　　　　1 piece of skin-on pork belly, 10g salt, 10g five-spice powder, 10ml soy sauce, 8g sugar, 5g edible baking soda, 1 green onion, 3 slices of ginger, 3–4 bamboo skewers, 1 sheet of aluminum foil

　　Method:

　　　　1. Wash the pork belly, then place it in cold water with the green onion and ginger. Slowly simmer until the meat changes color. Test with a chopstick—there should be no blood seeping out, and the meat should be about 70% cooked.

　　2. Once cooked, immediately remove the pork and rinse under cold water. Once slightly cooled on the outside, pat it dry with a towel.

　　3. Poke small holes in the skin using bamboo skewers—the finer and denser, the better. Then use a knife to scrape off the white membrane and impurities from the skin.

　　4. Sprinkle a small amount of salt (about 3g) on the skin and apply baking soda.

　　5. Flip the pork belly over and make several shallow cuts on the lean meat side for even flavor penetration. Mix the remaining salt, sugar, five-spice powder, and soy sauce in a bowl. Place the pork with the lean meat side down into the marinade and let it marinate for 1–2 hours.

　　6. Take out the marinated pork belly, pat off excess moisture, skewer it crosswise with bamboo skewers to prevent deformation, then wrap the sides tightly with aluminum foil, leaving only the skin exposed.

　　7. Preheat the oven to 250°C (or the highest temperature), place the pork belly in and bake at this temperature for about 30 minutes, or until the skin surface begins to turn yellow and charred. Remove it, then scrape off any blackened, burnt parts on the surface with a knife.

　　8. Apply a thin layer of cooking oil to the scraped skin, return it to the oven, and bake at 200°C for 10 minutes, or until you see oil bubbling out from the skin.

　　9. Finally, once the roast pork has slightly cooled, slice it. The skin can be eaten with sugar, and the lean meat can be dipped in soy sauce.

　　Tips:

　　　　Be sure to choose skin-on pork belly—otherwise, it wouldn’t be roast pork belly. Boiling it in cold water beforehand helps cook the meat while keeping it moist, so the lean part won’t turn dry during roasting. But don’t boil it too long—I used medium heat for about 8 minutes. Over-boiling may cause the skin to yellow and curl prematurely. When poking holes in the skin, be meticulous—the finer the holes, the crispier the result. Baking soda also helps with crisping. Keep the seasoning simple—just enough salt is great. Don’t overdo the soy sauce, and definitely avoid dark soy sauce.

　　Bamboo skewers are used to secure the lean meat and prevent it from shrinking or curling during high-heat roasting.