Nothing is simpler than a meal of siu yuk or roast pork and rice. The saltiness and crackling of the skin is satisfying. The garlicky notes of the five spice rub heavenly.
I always thought siu yuk would be imposible to make at home. All my trips to Chinatown always involved a stop at the Chinese deli to pick up a pound or two of the roasted piggy goodness.
Red cooked pork belly was my usual preferred method of cooking pork belly. However, that wonderful piece of belly was screaming for some variety and something different, so I set about searching for recipes on the internet.
When I came across the Chinese roast pork belly recipe, I felt like I had hit the jackpot where comfort food was concerned. No longer will I have to schlep my way to Chinatown to get a pound, only to have the skin turn soggy on me when I get home. I can now make this at home.
This dish is super easy to make at home. Although it won’t be the traditional whole suckling pig, pork belly makes for a fine substitute.
A word of advice though, take out the batteries from the smoke alarm when you do this. Unfortunately we have ours hardwired. As much as it is convenient not to have to think about batteries, it is very annoying when you are cooking things that produce smoke. Remember to put them back in when you are done cooking.
Siu Yuk – Chinese Roast Pork Belly
1kg pork belly, skin on
3 tbsp fine sea salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp five-spice powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
Method:
- Wash pork belly under cool running water. Pat dry.
- Score the skin with a sharp knife, making a diamond pattern.
- Rub the meat side of the pork belly with light soy sauce.
- Combine 1 tbsp sea salt, five-spice powder and 1 tbsp garlic powder together and rub the meat side of the pork.
- Rub remaining salt and garlic powder into the skin side of the pork.
- Set on rack in a roasting pan or a cookie sheet. Place in a cool spot or in the fridge and allow to dry at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Roast at least 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked.
- Turn the oven to broil and continue roasting until the skin is crispy. Remember to keep a watchful eye on it so it does not burn and to turn on your hood and open the windows. It will probably get smoky.
- Remove from oven and allow to rest 10 – 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with rice and a soy chilli dipping sauce or hoisin sauce if desired.
THAT looked so juicy Roast Pork Belly!!!! I’m bookmarking this one. This is a keeper! I’m salivating now because I can’t find tasty and juicy in Chinese Restaurants in Belgium. I’m going o make my neighbours envy LOL Credit to you! Thank you for sharing!
I have looked for something like this many times and come up short. I’m so glad you posted this and it is now bookmarked for future reference! Thanks!
@pixen @HoneyB – Thanks! I am glad to be of service
It is definitely worth at try at home.
I love siu yuk especially the crispy skin. I definitely have to give this recipe a try one day.
Looks crispy and delicious.
This sounds really tasty! I have been meaning to try cooking some pork belly.
Hey there
What do you mean by ‘turn the oven to broil’ and usually how much longer does it take after “turning the oven to broil”?
Thanks!
@Yvonne – There is a broil setting on most ovens. It is the last setting on the dial on mine. If you don’t have one, I guess you can turn it as high as it will go and move your rack up as high as you can in your oven.
How long it takes afterwards will depend on your oven. It took an additional 15 minutes on mine. Hope that helps.
In the UK I’ve never seen “Broil” on an oven nor heard of it as a term. Checking t’internet it seems it’s term people in the US use for “grill” – so I guess you’d need to do it in the top oven and switch the grill elements on for the last 15 minutes (which makes sense now).
Wow, the cooking method of this dish is great, I’ll try it later and I hope it tastes the way it look. Thanks for sharing!
when you say roast do you mean bake?
my oven only has 3 options. bake, broil and clean
looks great!! cant wait to try this out tomorrow!! will let ya know how it goes!! thanks pal!!ps how much should a good bit of pork belly cost??