Siew Yoke (Crispy Roast Pork)

                                  

2.5 kg pork belly (look for even thickness) – serves 20 pax

Marinade for meat side:

2 tsp 5-spice powder

½ tsp white pepper

2 tsp salt (use baking spoon measurement)

1 tbsp rice wine

For Skin:

2 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp rice vinegar – for brushing skin at 20 mins into roasting

Method:

1. Blanch pork skin side down for 5 mins.  Take it out and pat dry.  Using a  skewer to poke as many holes as possible on the pork skin surface only, making sure not to poke all the way through to the fats, otherwise the salt might seep through during baking, making your pork belly unpalatable salty.
2. Turn pork skin side down. Make slits across the grain to the meat side, approx. ½” intervals. This would prevent your pork from curling and the skin to crisp evenly when cooking. 
3. Combine salt, 5-spice powder and white pepper in a small bowl. Rub marinade evenly on the meat side & into slits. Place pork belly skin side up in a tray. 
4. Place uncovered skin side up overnight in fridge until an hour before roasting.
5. Prepare oven.  Wrap a pan with aluminium foil and place below to catch the dripping fat during roasting.  Preheat oven to 200 degrees C for 20 mins. 
6. Place pork belly on a rack in the middle of the oven, top & bottom grill.    Roast for 30 mins.
7. Remove the pork belly, brush away the salt & wipe oil from skin. 
8. Brush the rice vinegar all over the skin.
9. Increase to 250 degrees C, turn to Top Grill.  Roast for abt 30 mins.  Pork skin should bubble and crisp-up & turn charred.  Use a kitchen towel to wipe away any oil on the skin.  Return to oven & continue roasting for 15 mins (if skin is not crispy enough, roast for a further 10 minutes)
   
10. Once cooked, remove pork and let it rest half hour.  Scrap off the charred bits & chop to bite size pieces.

Notes:

To  get crispy skin, prick the skin until the skin is completely punctured with holes. This step is of utmost importance and there is no short cut if you want that crispy skin. It also requires skills as you have to poke it deep enough to loosen the skin but not into the layers of meat. Once you touch the meat, juices would flow into the skin when cooking, preventing the skin from getting crispy.   . 

Rock salt may be used to sprinkle on top of the skin sparingly. The rock salt will help to increase the temperature on the skin for that crunchy result and it also doesn’t melt as much like ground salt into the skin. Hence, you can simply just brush off the rock salt once is ready, and it won’t add another layer of saltiness to the pork belly

* the last time I roast this siew yoke, step 9, the skin is crispy but not evenly, so next time recommend to 50-55 mins at 250 degrees to get  more crackling.