Chinese crispy pork belly is, in my humble opinion, the best kind of pork belly. It is the perfect combination of crispy (not hard and crunchy) skin with juicy and tender meat. I was actually planning on making a kimchi pork belly stew to accompany the Korean fried chicken that my brother and his girlfriend were bringing over for dinner the other day. But there was one small problem. I had no kimchi in the house and the one that we had in our fridge was long expired (oops!). So I saved the pork belly for another day and made this most delightfully delicious Chinese crispy pork belly.
Serves 6 as a side (approx. 524 calories per serve)
Prep time 20 mins
Cook time 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
600g pork belly
1 tsp shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
Dash of white pepper
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
Extra salt for coating, preferably coarsely ground
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Cut the pork belly into 2cm strips, rinse and pat dry. Score the skin and prick with a small pin all over (the more pricks, the more crispy it gets in my opinion). You can have it whole instead of strips but I find it cooks more evenly in strips and saves you from having to chop it up later for serving.
Mix the shaoxing rice wine, salt, sugar, Chinese five spice powder and white pepper together in a small bowl and rub the mixture onto the meat (not the skin!) of the pork belly strips. If any of the mixture gets on to the skin, wipe it dry.
Brush the rice wine vinegar on to the skin and cover with a thin coating of salt.
Wrap the sides of each strip in foil and place on a baking tray. Place the tray on the lowest rack of the oven and roast for 1 hour.
After an hour, remove the foil and remove off any excess salt on the skin. Place the pork belly strips on to a rack and grill for a further 15 minutes.
Check to see the pork belly skin has puffed up and is crispy. Serve thisi Chinese crispy pork belly with rice and side dishes.
More Pork Recipes
- Celery stir fry with pork
- Fried egg tofu with pork
- Bougie fennel sausage rolls
- Kimchi stew with spam
- Sichuan green beans