Crispy Roasted Pork Belly

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: crispy, pork belly, port, roast

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 15

Marinate Time: 1

Total Time: 1 1 25

Servings:

Calories: 1531kcal

Crackling, crispy pork skin with a juicy, flavourful five-spice pork belly perfectly roasted in the oven to celebrate Lunar New Year.

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Equipment

Ingredients

2½ pounds Pork Belly bone in (or boneless)
1 Tablespoon shao hsing rice cooking wine
1 teaspoon sea salt

Marinade

½ cup yellow onion (1/2 large onion) diced
2 teaspoon garlic (4 cloves) minced
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon five spice powder
2 Tablespoons shao hsing rice cooking wine
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon ground white pepper (optional) or ground black pepper

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Instructions

Marinate

Rinse pork under cold water, scrape skin with knife (careful not to cut skin) to clean and pat dry with paper towels.
Poke holes into skin in an even layer (without piercing through to fat layer) with a wooden skewer or the tip of a sharp paring knife. Dip corner of a paper towel sheet into shao hsing wine and wipe over pork skin. Sprinkle sea salt evenly on skin.
In a medium mixing bowl stir together onion, garlic, five spice, brown sugar, shao hsing wine and soy sauce.
Place pork on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap the meat portion of the pork belly (leave the skin exposed) by creating a foil 'boat' and pinching the ends together. Carefully, pour marinade into the foil boat on each side (without touching the skin) and gently massage / swivel the marinade to cover the meat. Press together the sides to keep meat wrapped as tight as possible while leaving the skin exposed. Place it into a baking dish (or a container) that fits the meat snuggly. Put the dish into your refrigerator to marinate for 24 hours (for best results) and to give the skin enough time to dry completely. This is what will make it crispy.

Roast

Preheat oven to 300°F (176.7°C). Place a roasting rack into a 9 x 13 baking dish lined with aluminum foil (or use a roasting pan with a rack). Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels and wipe away excess salt on the skin. Add pork belly on top of the rack and place it in the oven on the lower-middle shelf. Roast meat undisturbed for 1 hour.
If you notice moisture on the pork belly skin, use paper towels to wipe away the excess moisture (this is important to get the skin crackling). Do this quickly as you do not want to lose too much oven heat. Close oven door and increase the temperature to 450°F (232.°C). Roast pork belly for another 30 to 45 minutes until the skin is golden and crispy.
A food thermometerhttps://amzn.to/3W2WtSq comes in really handy to check for meat doneness. The internal temperature for medium to medium-well pork meat is between 135°F to 145°F. If the skin is already brown, but the meat is not fully cooked, loosely place a sheet of aluminum on top of the pork skin to avoid further burning while waiting for the meat to reach desired doneness.
Allow meat to rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board, so the skin has a chance to cool and crisp up more as well as let the meat reabsorb some of the juices. Separate ribs from the meat (if you used a bone-in pork belly), then chop meat into bite-sized pieces. I like to flip the pork over on its skin and cut through the meat to make it easier to chop down on the crispy skin. Enjoy roasted pork with hoisin dipping sauce and a side of rice with veggies.

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Notes

What type of pork should I use?

For best results in a golden, crispy skin and juicy meat the best cut of meat is a pork belly (aka. side pork belly) with skin on. Choose one with 80% meat and 20% fat. Usually, you can buy this type of cut at your local asian grocery store from the butcher counter or meat refrigerator. Roast time will vary depending if you buy a pork belly with our without bone.

How long should I marinate the pork belly?

The key to roasting a very good, crackling skin is to have a dry, salted skin. In order to achieve this, the pork needs to marinate for at least 6 hours (minimum) or up to 24 hours.

What is rice cooking wine used for?

Used widely in asian dishes, this rice wine is a popular cooking liquid (made from fermented glutinous rice) that enhances or intensifies flavour and aroma in food. It’s a form of salted alcohol and can be used much like other wines such as red and white wine in other cuisines.

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