Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

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Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

by wiffy on January 12, 2012

in Asian,Baking,Chinese,Chinese New Year Recipes,Meat,Pork,Recipes,Roasting,Savoury Foods

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Crispy Roast Pork Belly 脆皮燒肉
Home-made crispy roast pork belly (Siu Yok/Shao Rou) may sound daunting, but it is actually quite easy, thanks to the oven doing the bulk of the work. Most of the preparation time is a no-work zone – chilling the marinated meat in the fridge, or slow-roasting it in the oven. Home-made crispy roast pork  is superior to store-bought ones because of the super crispy and crackling skin. It is so crispy that you can hear the nosiy, firecracker music as you are slicing the meat and eating it. Feel free to increase the quantity of meat in this recipe (adjust the marinade ingredients accordingly) so long as they occupy one layer in the oven during roasting. If you have leftover roast pork, you can use them in your stir-fries and fried rice.

Ingredients
- 750g pork belly (uncut slab)
- 2 tsp sea salt, divided
- 1/2 tbsp five-spice powder
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- water
Tools
- kitchen paper towels
- bamboo skewer (satay stick)
- oven-safe ramekin and roasting tray
Directions
1. Use kitchen tweezers to pull out stray hair on the pork belly skin, if any. Use a knife to scrap the skin for a few minutes to remove impurities. Rinse pork belly stab and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Holding a small knife in a stabbing action, make short diagonal slits with the tip of the knife on the surface of the skin (but not cutting into the meat) at random. I asked the market butcher to help me with this step when I bought the meat.
3. Combine 1 tsp salt, 5-spice powder and white pepper in a small bowl. Rub the marinade all over the meat portion only. If any marinade gets on the skin, rub it off with a paper towel.
4. Rub the remaining 1 tsp salt on the skin. Place pork belly on a plate, uncovered, skin side up and let it marinade for a few hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator. The purpose is to dry the skin thoroughly and also to allow the marinade to seep into the meat.
5. When ready to roast, first place a ramekin in the center of a semi-deep roasting tray (I am using a bread tin). Fill the tray with some water and place the pork belly on the ramekin.  Be careful not to let the skin get wet, if that happens, pat dry with paper towel.
6. Bake the pork belly at preheated oven of 220°C for 30 minutes to get the blistering on the skin started.
7. By this time, the skin will be softened and you can see some blistering on the skin. Using a bamboo skewer, poke as many holes as you can on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
8. Return pork belly and roast at 200°C for another 90 minutes, or until the skin is roasted to crispy perfection. At every 30 minutes interval, top up the water in the tray and poke holes with a bamboo skewer on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
9. Place the cooked pork on a wire rack and allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.
10. Scrap off charred areas from the skin, if any, with a knife. Place the meat on a chopping board, skin side down. Slice a strip of pork, and further cut the strip to smaller, bite-sized pieces.

Cooking Notes
1. Tips for getting perfect crispy skin:
- The skin has to be very dry and hence it is recommended to dry it in the refrigerator for a few hours, preferably overnight.
- The slits and holes made on the skin (not so deep that it cut into the meat) helps it to crackle, so make as many as you can but do not cut into the meat.
- Roast the pork on a higher rack closer to the heating coil.
2. The water helps the meat to be tender and moist, while allowing the oil to drip directly onto it for easy cleaning.
3. Before the meat has been cooked, the skin is very tough and it is difficult to make cuts on it. Some recipes suggest blanching the meat first but I find that after blanching, the meat will not absorb the marinade well. Hence I use my method of first making slits on the raw skin with the tip of the knife by holding the knife in a stabbing action (I saw my butcher doing so). After the meat has been roasted for 30 minutes, the skin will be soft and it will now be very easy to poke holes on the skin using bamboo skewers.

Ingredients Used five spice powder • pork • salt • white pepper




 From http://bakecookeat.blogspot.com/2010/02/crispy-chinese-roast-pork-belly-siew.html

Crispy Chinese Roast Pork Belly (Siew Yoke/Siobak)

*Also available cooked-to-order by weight, please email bakecookeat@gmail.com for details.

I made this for lunch the other day for the first time after comparing tons of online recipes, and I must say- never have I experienced an atmosphere so electric with anticipation in this house as at the possibility of achieving hawker-standard siew yoke at home.

Thankfully to our collective yelps of delight, the results were just totally, unbelievably perfect! Crisp crunchy golden-orange crackling and succulent just-fatty-enough layers of pork, the entire toppling pile of siew yoke was wiped out between the three of us in no time.

Be warned however- the whole kitchen will smoke up and your entire oven will be covered in oil splatter. It is totally worth it though if you don't mind a bit of cleaning up- the meat truly tastes like it does back home and if Arivind is anything to go by, your nearest and dearest who get to eat it will hail you as God. Funny how much street cred crackling can get you :)

Crispy Chinese Roast Pork Belly (Siew Yoke/Siobak)

Clean 1 kg pork belly and dry thoroughly (I do this by putting the meat skin side down on some kitchen towels after washing).

Stir together the following ingredients to form the marinade:

½ tbsp salt

½ tbsp sugar

1 large or 2 small cubes nam yue (red fermented/preserved beancurd-available in jars or tins in Asian shops)

½ tbsp five-spice powder

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

Score the flesh part (not the skin) of the pork belly lightly in diagonal lines and rub in the marinade well. Place the joint in a foil-lined roasting tin, marinated side down so it can sit and absorb the flavours.

Score the skin part this time, using a sharp knife and being as thorough as possible. Rub in lots of salt all over, deep into each cut.

Leave the joint uncovered overnight to dry completely. Room temperature is fine in cold climates like London, but you should refrigerate the meat if it's hot where you are.

When ready to cook, lift the joint up and place a wire rack underneath to enable fat to drip off into the pan. Pat dry if there is any moisture left on the skin and bake in the middle of a 200C fan-assisted oven.

After 20 mins, remove and stab the skin all over as much as possible using two forks, one in each hand (I find this much steadier and faster than just using one hand). Drizzle the skin all over with a few tablespoons of rice vinegar.

Return the pan to the oven and switch it to grill setting (upper heat only) at very high heat, about 250C. You will see the crackling start to bubble and pop wherever you poked with a fork. Grill for a further 30 mins, opening the oven door intermittently to let smoke escape, until the skin gets slightly burnt and charred. Don't worry about the blackened bits- it can be removed easily and is essential to ensure the crackling achieves the correct crispiness.

Once cooked, remove from the oven, scrape off any burnt parts with a serrated knife and leave to rest 15 mins before chopping.

Listen to the satisfying crunch as you cut your siew yoke into chunks.

Save the cleaning up for later and devour with hot steaming rice.

Enjoy!