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Chinese Crispy Roast Pork Belly

A classic Cantonese dish famous for its crispy crackling skin and the aromatic melt-in-your-mouth pork belly.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time1 hour 50 minutes
Marinate6 hours
Total Time8 hours 50 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Pork, Pork Belly, Roast Pork
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 330kcal
Author: LaabiCook.com
Cost: SGD$20

Equipment

  • Pot
  • Oven

Ingredients

  • 1 kg pork belly skin on
  • 6 slices ginger
  • 2 tbsps Shaoxing huatiao wine

Marinade

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup Shaoxing huatiao wine
  • 2 tbsps brown sugar
  • 1 tsp five-spice powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic minced

For baking

  • Sea salt to cover entire skin surface
  • Room temperature water 3cm deep in roasting pan

Instructions

Parboil and pricking

  • Place pork belly skin side down in a pot of water, add ginger and 2 tbsps of Shaoxing wine. Turn on heat and let it boil for 5 mins. Remove from pot, allow to cool.
  • Use a sharp tool (bamboo stick, fork or meat tenderizer) to prick as much holes as possible on the skin without penetrating the fatty layer.
  • Flip the pork belly over, make about 2cm wide and 1.5cm deep cuts in the flesh.

Marinate

  • Mix well together in a box big enough to fit the pork belly: soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, brown sugar, five-spice powder, salt, pepper and minced garlic.
  • Spoon the marinade inside the cuts. Then place pork belly flesh side down in marinade without marinating the skin.

Dry and chill

  • Dap skin dry with kitchen towel.
  • Leave in fridge uncovered for at least 6 hours or overnight.

After 6 hours or overnight

  • Preheated oven to 180°C
  • Remove pork belly from marinade, place skin side down. Insert 2 skewers crosswise through the meat to prevent it from curling. Dap skin dry with kitchen towel.
  • Wrap with aluminum foil but leave the skin exposed
  • Arrange wire rack on roasting pan and place pork belly on rack.
  • Cover the entire skin surface with sea salt

Bake

  • Place pork belly and pan oven, add 3cm of water in pan. Bake for 60 mins at 180°C.
  • Take out the pork belly from the oven and preheat oven to 240°C.
  • Remove salt crust and aluminum foil. Dap skin dry with kitchen towel
  • Place pork belly back in oven. Bake at 240°C for 40 mins.

Carve & serve

  • Allow pork belly to cool for at least 15 mins. Remove skewers and cut off the burnt parts of the pork belly.
  • Carve it into bite-size pieces and serve with mustard, chili sauce or sugar.

Video

Notes

  1. When carving the pork belly, place skin side down. Cut the meat part first and then press the knife to break the crispy skin.
  2. Water in roasting pan helps to catch drippings from the pork belly during the second roast and makes it easier to clean.
  3. The oil drippings from the pork belly can be saved as pork lard if you can figure out how to. That's another tutorial video for another day.
  4. If you have any leftovers, just store in the fridge and reheat until just warmed.
  5. Roast pork is also perfect when stir-fried with veggies!