Crispy Roast Pork Belly (aka Siew Yoke 脆皮烧肉）

Roast Pork Belly also called Siew Yoke/Siu Yuk in Cantonese or Shao Rou in Mandarin. Is a fatty dish loves by most Chinese. Still remember my father loves roasted meat, if he got the chances he would buy roast pork belly, char siew and roast duck to add on to the table. My sisters, brother and I always like to eat only the salted portion of the meat and leave behind the crispy and fatty portions...which would finished up by my parent. Now we get older and I still love this roast pork belly, not just the salted portion but the whole of it. 

Last year, saw many fellow bloggers homemade the crispy roast pork belly, at that point of time I told myself "I don't think I can do that!" This week, thinking of this dish and want to list this into my recipe collection, I try to look for more information, some used the recipe with an ingredient called nam yuk, I chose to use the recipe without it. My first attempt turned out quite nice, love the taste, the meat is tender and juicy, the crispy rind is crispy but still got room to improve!  This is one of WT's favourite dish, he will be happy to see it when he comes home :)

Thanks Ann from Anncoo Journal for making the recipe easy for me to follow!

Don't want to waste the sauce, I marinated the side of the pork belly as well :)

Recipe adapted from Anncoo Journal

1kg Pork belly, clean and dry

1/2 tbsp Coarse sea salt

1/2 tbsp Sugar

1/2 tbsp Five spice powder (used 1.5 tbsps)

1 tbsp Rice wine (used Shaoxing)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined

Steps:

1. Score the flesh part (not the skin) of the pork belly lightly in diagonal lines and rub in the marinade well.

2. Place the marinated side down on a container so it can sit and absorb the flavors. 
3. Use a skewer or satay stick to poke repeatedly on the skin, then rub more salt on the skin only. (I don't have the special skewer and used the satay sticks and...it really need lot of strength to poke thro' the rind...I don't think I did it well enough)
4. Marinate the pork belly uncovered for several hours or overnight in the fridge so that the skin will dry completely. (I placed it overnight in the fridge)
5. When ready to roast, pat dry any moisture left on the skin and place pork in the middle of the oven. Remember to place a foil and pan underneath to enable fat to drip into the pan.
6. Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 45 mins then switch temperature to 200C for another 20 mins. (Bubbles appeared on rind after I switched the temperature to 200C) The skin will get slightly burnt and charred.
7. Once cooked, remove pork from oven, scrape off any burnt parts with serrated knife  and leave to rest for 10 mins before chopping.