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MarcusK
25
Jul 27, 2018
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Who doesn't look a super crispy piece of pork belly! <3 I missed a few pictures, so i'll write down step by step what went on. 1) Bring water to boil, add in a few slices of ginger and cooking wine to remove some porky smell
2) While waiting for water to boil, I used to bamboo skewers to pierce the meat diagonally to try and maintain that shape. I didn't want my pork to curl up when cooking.
3) Blanch pork for 10 - 15 mins, and remove.
4) Start to score the skin with a fork, or a meat tenderizer tool. (Check out picture 3) You want to have made a lot of tiny holes in the skin, so when it cooks in the oven, the fat layer under the skin will come through and "fry" the skin.
5) Optional: Add some white vinegar or some form of acid to a baking dish, place skin side down. This helps make a crispy skin. Score the bottom of the pork belly, and add your marinade. I use a mixture of white pepper, chinese 5 spice, salt, sugar, and shaoxing wine. Let the skin sit in a marinade for a couple of hours. You can do this over night, and do step 6 onwards in the morning if you are planning to make this for dinner.
6) Remove pork belly from vinegar, and place skin side up. (you can use another tray, or just give it a quick rinse. You now want to sprinkle salt liberally all over the skin and give it a quick massage, getting the salt into some nooks and crannies.
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7) Allow it to sit uncovered in the fridge for a few more hours, the longer the better. The salt + the dry air of the fridge will help to dry up the skin. The salt will draw out the moisture from the skin, so you will have to pat the skin dry before cooking. You can rub off all the excess salt too, as we want it to be as dry as possible.
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8) Just to make sure i have score the skin well enough, I used my tenderizer to score the skin again.
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9) Now, I forgot to mention that you'd want to remove your pork belly from the fridge at least 30 mins before cooking. It's gonna go into a hot oven for an hour, and to prevent the sides of the meat from burning, I wrapped it up tightly in aluminium foil.
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Cover with an even layer of salt! It will "drain" some of the excess fat while cooking. Don't worry, it won't be too salty! Into a preheated oven at 225 C for an hour.
10) After an hour of cooking, the salt has almost formed a shell/crust of sorts, and can be removed. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it can be a hassle. Use a spoon of the back of a knife to scrape it off.
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This is what it looks like! Can you see all the pores? That's when you know the skin is gonna be bubbly, light and super crisp! Open up the foil too, to make sure that the salt doesn't drop into the liquid at the bottom of the foil. The pork belly can become a little too salty for some people if that happens.
11) Brush some cooking oil on the skin, and send it back into the oven. Switch it from bake/fan mode to broil/grill. You can choose to bring the it up close to the heating element, but I just leave it on the middle rack. Watch the bubbly magic happen! This step can take any where from 5 - 15 mins, SO PAY ATTENTION. Eyeball it, and you can push it as far as possible, just before burning.
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If only you guys saw my insta story, with that ASMR sound of the crispy skin.
12) Let it rest for 10-15 minutes, and its time to cut! I recommend cutting it skin side down to get really nice straight lines of skin. If you try cutting it skin side up, you'd probably crack the skin in jagged lines, which is no biggy.
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I hope you enjoyed this post!
Jul 27, 2018
phoenixsong
1055
Jul 29, 2018
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MarcusKMy dad's a diehard fan of crispy pork belly skin. He has attempted several times to make it himself, but has never succeeded as he only did the salting part right. If I didn't chance across your post I think he'd never dream of the scoring, vinegar and refrigerating processes XD
Jul 29, 2018
MarcusK
25
Jul 29, 2018
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phoenixsongtry it out and let me know how it goes! Fingers crossed, it turns out perfect! If you don't have a meat tenderizer tool, you can always use a fork or a knife. After blanching, the skin should have softened, so a fork would pierce it easily. Just don't stab it all the way through to the meat, just 2 - 3mm is enough.
Jul 29, 2018
ltopper
1113
Jul 31, 2018
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MarcusKThis...is a work of art.
Jul 31, 2018
jeanines
516
Sep 27, 2018
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MarcusKI made this and it wasn't as pretty as yours but OMG the sound of crispy, crackling pork skin is divine.
Sep 27, 2018
jeanines
516
Sep 27, 2018
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jeaninesThe smell too! ::drools::
Sep 27, 2018
MarcusK
25
Sep 27, 2018
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jeanineswas it good???
Sep 27, 2018
jeanines
516
Oct 1, 2018
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MarcusKIt was so, so good!!
Oct 1, 2018
phoenixsong
1055
Oct 19, 2018
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MarcusKThink I shall try it tmr. What's the purpose of the initial blanching?
Oct 19, 2018
MarcusK
25
Oct 21, 2018
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phoenixsongSorry! Busy with assignments and studying. The initial blanching helps to get rid of "scum" unwanted left overs from blood. and bone dust ect. More importantly, it'll soften the skin so you can even use a fork to score the skin. If you blanch with shaoxing and spring onions, you can also reduce the "porky smell"
Oct 21, 2018
phoenixsong
1055
Oct 21, 2018
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MarcusKNo problem, appreciate it!
Oct 21, 2018
phoenixsong
1055
Nov 1, 2019
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MarcusKHi, I've finally attempted to make it XD The skin looks like a mountain range! Only certain portions have exploded into bubbles. Can you troubleshoot it for me?
Nov 1, 2019
phoenixsong
1055
Nov 1, 2019
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MarcusKAs of now, I suspect it wasn't scored deeply enough in some regions, and I probably cooked it for too long before setting the heat to grill, which gives it less time allowance to hit the desired outcome
Nov 1, 2019
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