The ultimate guide to perfectly done Cantonese crispy pork belly with oven at home. Crispy pork belly is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes for the years in Guangdong province. Each time when I have a chance to enjoy Guangdong cuisine, this crispy pork belly is one of my choices.
After I learn how to make crispy pork belly from a Cantonese friends at home several years ago. I am always trying to find ways and information for a better result and trying to understand how every step works. And this is my ultimate guide.
Cook’s Note
This is the most simplified version for home cooking. I will introduce some extra steps if you want to bring this to the next level.
1.Choose the right part of pork| you should use pork belly to make crispy pork belly.
2.Poke as many holes as possible on the rind. The fat oil produced in the roasting process need ways to come out. Why we need oil coming through the holes? Because hot oil brings hot temperature, which can keep the rind something like gently deep-fried for a quite long time.
3.Applying baking soda or white vinegar can help to soften the skin and thus making the crispy pork belly even fluffy. But the remaining flavor of baking soda may bring some bitter taste to the skin. So the best solution is to set the pork for 30 minutes and then wash the skin before air-drying. I did not include this step in this recipe since it is not quite necessary for me.
4.The salt layer can help to absorb water and keep the skin dry. Cover a layer of sea salt on the surface can help to absorb the water released in the early of the roasting and keep the rind dry.
5.Marinating the pork belly for a longer time, at least overnight. We are roasting a large piece. During the marinating time, do not cover the pork belly with plastic wrapper. Place it in a large bowl and let it dry in the fridge.
You will need
- 1000g pork belly with beautiful layers
- 2 small chunks of ginger
- 2 scallions
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- 6-10 Sichuan peppercorns (optional)
Marinating
- 1 and ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tsp. Chinese five spice
- ½ tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white pepper
Roasting
- sea salt to cover the meat
- white vinegar for brushing
Instructions
Place the pork belly in a large pot (rind site down) with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.
Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many as possible holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step. After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.
Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.
Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.
Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes.
Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Turn your oven to upper fire mode and turn up the temperature to 220 degree C.
Continue roasting for 20 to 25 minutes until the skin is well crackled. Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.
Cutting tips: place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.
How to serve
You can serve this with sugar, mustard sauce or Thai sweet and chili sauce. But not too many cubes each time. I would suggest 2 cubes for each individual. I make three strips this time and serve only 1 strip one meal. We have very similar dish in Western China, where the pork belly rind is deep-fried for crackling. Mixed chili peppers are used to remove the oily.
Other pork belly recipes
- Pork belly can be used in stir-fry recipes: twice cooked pork belly
- Pork belly can be roasted: Roasted pork belly with honey
- Pork belly can be red braised: red-braised pork belly.
Crispy Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)
Ingredients
- 1000 g pork belly with beautiful layers
- 2 small chunks of ginger
- 2 scallions
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- 6-10 Sichuan peppercorns ,optional
Marinating
- 1.5 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. Chinese five spice
- ½ tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white pepper
Roasting
- sea salt to cover the meat
- white vinegar for brushing
Instructions
- Place the pork belly in a large pot with clean water, add cooking wine, scallion, ginger and sichuan peppercorn. Continue cook for 3 minutes after boiling.
- Transfer the pork out and pat dry the water. Then pork as many holes on the rind. Back and forth and repeat several times. This is the most important step.
- After the hard pork process, apply a small pinch of salt on the rind.
- Cut two shallow lines on the pork (only the lean part, not deep to touch the fat) and then sprinkle the dry rub evenly.
- Wrap the pork belly with foil wrappers and place in fridge overnight.Uncovered please, we need the rind to be dry before roasting.
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Brush a thin layer of vinegar and spread salt evenly to form a protecting layer. Roast for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
- Remove the salt and place the pork belly on the middle rack. Remember to use a tray to catch the dropping oils. Use upper fire only at the temperature of 220 degree C, and roast until the rind is golden brown and well crackled.
- Let the pork belly stay in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly cooled down. Transfer out and cut into small bites.
- Cutting tips: when cutting the pork belly, place the skin side down. Cut the meat part firstly and then press the knife to break the crispy rinds.
Nutrition
Rob
Wow! You cannot imagine how valuable this recipe this is for me! I love this pork belly since I was young and grew up eating it as a treat whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant. I have made it at home, but after following several recipes on the net - which didnt turn out the way I remembered it - I just decided to do the QUICK and EASY way. I just slapped salt all over a piece of pork belly, put in the oven for 50 minutes at 200C and crisped the skin at 220C for 10 minutes. Easy but not the same thing! Now I am going to try your recipe for real, and seeing how it turns out, I am betting my Siu Yuk future on your recipe. You have introduced a few techniques that I didnt know is very useful - such as boiling the meat with the rind down, cutting lines in the meat, wrapping it in foil the way you did. I believe these are essential steps that I didnt know of. I just want you to know that I am a daily visitor of your site as I am learning and to let you know that you are making a big difference to everyone who loves Sichuan Food and have discovered your blog. Please continue what you are doing and I hope life gives you the reward and satisfaction that you deserve. Your food recipes make a difference to my family!
Rob
Apologize! I think there must be a "code error" somewhere! I dont know why I have this strange avatar "SEX" associated with my name above. If you can erase it so much the better! Weird! SOrry, I did not intend for this to happen!
Rob
I hope I figured out the problem. Found that I had an account somewhere with Gravatar on it, and had a weird picture there,. I have tried to fix it. Hope it works!
Rob
It has worked. My profile has a picture of Bruce Lee on it. Very Chinese!
Ying
Found this recipe, followed it and it works. The pork was tender and delicious and the skin was crispy !!
Elaine
Thanks Ying!
Amanda
We are cooking your recipe right now. It smells and looks amazing.
Elaine
Thanks Amanda!! Hope it comes out great.
Carol Voce
My first attempt at cooking pork belly and it was one of th3 best pork belly dishes I have ever eaten! Delicious and easy! Thank you 👍
Elaine
Thanks Carol. Pork belly has been always my favorite pork part along with butt. I am glad this turns out good at your side too. Happy cooking!
Christine
Thank you for the recipe! Your step by step instructions with pictures and detailed tips has helped to make the perfect Siu Yuk!
Elaine
You are the most welcome,Christine! Thanks so much for your feedback.
Efren Ylagan
How do you wrap in foil but still leave it uncovered !
Elaine
Efren,
Haha, I have never thought that might be a problem. You get a large foil firstly, place the pork belly in the middle and then fold up the four sides, and the fold any extra parts inside the box. It is actually quite easy comparing with other common papers since foil can be shaped easily.
Adam
Hey
Recipe sounds fantastic - will be making tonight / tomorrow.
Can you suggest some serves / sides to go with this please?
I was thinking some steamed greens, mustard and Nd a sauce of black vinegar / ginger but feel it maybe needs something else to bring it together?
Thanks
Elaine
Adam,
Yes, I agree greens (soup, salad or stir-fries) or salad (especially some strong black vinegar salad) can be quite good with this. In China, we usually serve this with sugar or a sweet and sour sauce.
Andreas
Hi Elaine,
I don't want to be impolite, but maybe you want to replace "mutilate" in the first sentence by "ultimate" . It sounds a little bit disturbing as is. On the other hand, as nobody else has mentioned this before people seem to like your recipes so much, that they overlook it 🙂
Elaine
Thanks Andreas. It is ok to let me know directly. I got lots of typos when written in English.
Karwei
Hi, elain.Firstly, thank you for sharing your precious recipes! I want to ask you how much more should I roast the pork when my oven only goes up to 200degree celsius (about the chongqing grill fish too) only.
Karwei
I use microwave that has oven function.
Karwei
Hi, elain.Firstly, thank you for sharing your precious recipes! I want to ask you how much more should I roast the pork when my oven only goes up to 200degree celsius (about the chongqing grill fish too) only. I use microwave that supports oven function
Elaine
I never tried to use the oven function of microwave. I suggest roast 10 minutes firstly and then check the situation and start with another five minutes until the skin is well cracked. Can you watch what's happening from the window?