Crackling Skin Roast Pork / Siu Yuk

 脆皮烧肉

Ingredients

1kg fresh Indonesian pork belly

Spice rub: 1 tsp five spice powder, half tsp salt, dashes of white pepper, pinch of tumeric powder (optional)

1 spoonful of love 

Method:

1. Boil the slab of meat for 10 minutes, put into ice bath to bring temperature down as fast as possible, remove and pad dry, and use meat tenderiser to poke holes (as many as possible) on the skin. Do not poke too deep as otherwise, meat juices will flow up into the skin during roasting and affect the crispiness of the skin (step 9)

2. Make small slashes or slits on meat side to get more seasoning into the meat (also prevents the meat from curling up ).

3. Apply the spice rub evenly all over the meat (not the skin).

4. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp Salt and 1 Tbsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) on the skin and spread it evenly. Let sit for about 20 mins until you see lots of water drawn up out of the skin. Dab it dry with kitchen towel, and brush off any remaining grains of salt.

5. Place pork into a container, cover loosely with baking paper (so that air can circulate and dry the skin) and place in refrigerator, overnight or for at least 18 hours.

6. Remove the meat from fridge at least one hour before roasting.

7. Brush a thin layer of white/rice vinegar on the skin and repeat this half hour later. This will neutralise the baking soda. This step is optional.

8. Insert one/two skewers crosswise into the meat. This will prevent it from curling during the roasting process.

9.  Cover the skin with a thin layer of salt (to further draw out moisture during roasting). 

Roast the meat in oven (2nd rack from bottom, fan mode) at 150°C for 30mins. Place a tray of water under the rack. After 30mins, remove tray of water and the meat from the oven. Note: Do adjust the roasting time based on the type and accuracy of your oven.

10. Switch the oven to grilling mode at 250°C. 

11. Scrap off the salt from the skin and dab the skin with kitchen toweldry as moisture (including fats). Grill the meat until skin is puffy, bubbly and golden brown. Keep a close eye on the grilling. There may be uneven browning of the skin if there are hot spots in the oven. In this case, rotate the tray and/or use aluminium foil to cover those part of the skin which has already puffed up.

12. Let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy the crispy roast pork belly! Sometimes, we make sandwich with them.