Chinese Crispy Pork Belly

Serves 4 People (250g each)

Ingredients

• 1 pork belly, skin on (800 - 1.2kg)

• 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp white vinegar (helps conduct heat evenly)

• 200 g rock salt / Or Normal Table Salt

Instructions

1- Prepare the Pork Belly: (Pic 1-4 below)

• Use an ice pick, sharp metal skewer or another tool to prick tons and tons of holes in the skin. Avoid piercing into the fat as best you can, and really ensure you do not pierce the flesh (f you pierce the fat too much (a bit is ok) or flesh, then after you remove the salt crust and place it under the grill/broiler, juices will bubble up onto the skin and prevent the skin from getting crispy. It's not the end of the world if you have a handful of pricks that went too deep, you will just get tiny splotches or little strips of crackling that's not 100% crispy.)

• Turn the pork belly upside down. Rub the flesh (not skin) with Chinese cooking wine, dribbling it on gradually. Sprinkle over five spice powder, salt and pepper. Rub all over flesh, including sides (not on skin).

• Turn skin side up and place in a container. Dab skin dry with paper towels. Refrigerate uncovered for 12 hours (max 24 hrs, min 3 hrs).

2 - Cook: (Pic 5-8 below)

• Preheat oven to 180C (all oven types).

• Remove pork from fridge. Place onto a large sheet of foil. Fold up sides of foil around the pork to enclose it snugly with a 1.5cm rim above the pork skin (to hold salt in).

• Transfer pork to baking tray. Dab skin with paper towels.

• Brush skin with vinegar.

• Spread rock salt on the skin (the foil edges will stop it from falling down the sides).

• Roast for 60 minutes.

• Remove pork from oven and transfer onto work surface.

• Switch to grill on high. Move shelf so it is at least 25cm from the heat source.

• Fold down foil and scrape all the salt off the top and sides. Return pork only (i.e. discard foil) to baking tray.

• Place under the grill for 20 - 25 minutes, rotating tray once or twice for even heat distribution, until skin is golden, crispy and puffed. The secret to perfect crackling is to level the skin so there’s even heat distribution. Otherwise, the highest point burns before the lowest part has a chance to crisp up to crackling! Tip - Use chopped onions or foil (shown below) to prop under the pork.

3- To Serve:

• Remove pork onto cutting board. Slice into 1 - 1.5cm /thick slices, then into smaller slices like pictured in post. Cut from the bottom (Flesh side first) and then apply force to cut through the crackling (I find that using a cleaver for this is best)

• Serve with ordinary yellow mustard - or Hot English Mustard or Hoison sauce (my fav)

• We like to serve with Coconut rice and Long Stem Broccoli covered with a tangy yoghurt sauce.