So, I have eaten it. I’ve seen the pictures of the golden-brown bubbly crispy pork skin. I’ve experienced the crunch, followed with a moist soft chew of the roasted meat, the mouth-coating feel of the velvety fat, and spice flavors firing off at different times. I’ve eaten it from the best restaurants in the area, and usually roll my eyes in delight. But these are pros, and they know what they are doing.
Chinese Roast Pork Belly! I wanted to do it myself, bad.
So, I researched and as many folks do, I watched some videos. Crazy how many different methods there were. Some said brush the skin with vinegar. Most said poke holes in the skin, a handful said to score the skin. Some did a salt crust just before roasting, others did a sprinkling of salt and baking powder and wiped it all off after an hour. Then I saw people say you don’t need to poke the skin, you don’t need vinegar. My wife, Lan, told me however much you research, it’s going to take multiple trials to get it right.
Seems like everyone agreed you need to render much of the fat off and roast the pork until it’s perfectly moist – all while achieving super-crunchy skin. But how?
Turns out I had great success on the first go. The meat was succulent, and the skin was super crunchy (more than I expected!). It’s a pretty simple cook, but it needs to be watched closely. Here is what I did:
Ingredients
Print Recipe
- 1 piece skin-on pork belly, about 2 lbs
- ¼ cup coarse salt (or enough to cover skin so you can’t see any pink)
- 2-3 Tbsp Dizzy Pig Peking Cninese-style seasoning
