Chinese Crispy Roast Pork Belly or Siu Yuk

It has been quite a while since I last updated!  Just too busy with work and with my life at the moment!  Well I had a bit of time to whip up something gorgeous and that is really close to my heart lol...........CHINESE CRISPY ROAST PORK BELLY! or Siu Yuk 烧肉. You will see these piggys hanging next to roast ducks display windows at pretty much any chinese butcher.....and I can't resist but looking how yummy and bubbly the crispy crunchy crackle looks on the pork meat.  YUMMMMMMMMMMM.

It looks hard to make but oh my it was so easy to make!  The ingredients are already available in my pantry so all I needed was the pork belly!


What you need:
2kg of young pork belly
1TBS of rice wine vinegar
1TBS of salt

Marinade
1 TBS of salt
1 TBS of sugar
1 cube of preserved or fermented bean curd
1 TBS of Chinese five spice powder
1 TBS of chopped garlic

Method:

Boil water and mean while clean pork belly and poke holes or incisions all over the skin with a knife or anything that is sharp.   Lay pork into a deep tray/bowl and pour the boiling water over the pork belly and blanch quickly.  Take it out and submerge into water or ice to stop it from cooking.   Dry the pork with a clean towel and put in fridge to dry out even more.

Meanwhile, add all the marinade ingredients together into a mixing bowl (except for vinegar) and make sure to mix the bean curd thoroughly.

Okay now with the pork, lay skin side down onto a baking tray and rub the marinade all over the meat (not the skin....the skin has be dry).  Marinate for 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to about 220c for 20 minutes.  Lay the pork skin side up.   Rub skin with some salt (not too much).   Put into oven for about 25minutes and you will see it turn brown and start to crackle and bubble.  Take out and poke more holes/incisions into the skin and brush it with rice wine vinegar.  Careful at this stage cause it will pop/bubble more.   Put the tray back into the oven and roast for another 20 to 35 minutes.

Tap the pork skin with a spoon and when you hear that 'sound' it is sure ready!   If it looks charcoal then just brush/scrape it off with a knife.  Let it rest for 15minutes or so and cut it up and eat immediately!