Roast Pork (a.k.a. Siew Yoke, Shao Rou, Shio Bak)

This is my mum's specialty. This is a dish that everyone in my extended family rave about. I tried replicating this a couple of times but only my first and this recent try were fairly successful. Every other attempt in between did not work out well and I am not too sure why. The skin of the pork did not crackle, which is the all important attraction of this dish.

I used a xue di zi to make this. But you can try the oven. I have heard successful stories of some who used the oven.

(estimated measurements)

1kg pork belly

2-3 tsp chinese five-spice powder

2 tsp salt

Score the skin of the meat with a sharp knife. I found it rather difficult to make the diamond-shaped, criss-cross pattens so I just made parallel incisions across the width of the piece of meat.

Place the meat on a metal rack and into the sink (or a tray), skin side up. Pour hot boiling water onto the meat. You will see the skin shrinking a little and exposing the fat beneath the skin. That is what we want to achieve. Using a paper towel, pat dry the meat, paying special attention to the skin to ensure that it is dry.

Marinate the meat with spice and salt. Place the marinated meat covered in the fridge for at least 2 hours. I like to marinate it for at least 12 hours or overnight. You may marinate this 2-3 days in advance too.

Preheat the oven at 190C. Allow the meat to come up to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before placing it in the oven, skin side up on a metal rack. Cook it for about 45 minutes.

Using a fork, poke the skin of the pork several times. Increase the temperature to 225C and cook it for about 15 minutes or until you are happy with the crackle on the skin. You may test it by using the fork to gently tap on the skin and it should give you a slightly hollow sound.

Allow the meat to rest for about 20 minutes before cutting into bite size pieces to serve.

Note:

Try to buy a piece of pork belly that has both a good amount of fat and meat. Some that are sold in supermarkets tend to have more fat than meat. I reckon patronising an asian butcher would be a safe bet. For your info, I bought this for $9.99/kg from Hauff's Butchery.