I've always wanted to make my own roast pork (烧肉) but have read many reviews that they couldn't get a nice crisp. Some were crispy while it's hot but turned chewy when cooled. Some couldn't even get the skin crispy at all. In addition, most recipes ask for red fermented beancurd (南乳) which I do not have at home. After much contemplation, I decided to just shelf the idea until I saw Pearlyn's roast pork as she uses relatively basic ingredients.
To be doubly sure I get a nice crisp, I googled for more ideas and I found a really good tip in Lily's blog here, that is to score the skin instead of just piercing. Also, another blogger, Pure Enjoyment shared to scald the meat first and to leave it marinated in the fridge uncovered to dry up the skin.
Being my first attempt, I was concern the salt content may be too high so I reduced it accordingly and it was just right for our family. The baking time was almost a good 2 hours, I started off with 240C for 40 mins, then reduced to 210C and baked till I see bubbles on the skin.
The meat was very juicy and tender with a nice crispy skin! Yes, I did it and it was a success! I'm definitely going to make this again!
Roast Pork (烧肉)
(Recipe adapted from here, here and here)
Ingredients
1 piece of pork belly (around 1kg)
1.5 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp five-spice powder
Method
- Scald pork belly in boiling water for a few minutes. Drain and cool the pork belly completely.
- Using a sharp pointed tool such as a chisel (I used a fork), pierce as many holes as possible onto the skin layer. Then score the skin using a sharp knife (see 2nd picture).
- Mix five-spice powder and salt together and rub the seasoning into the pork.
- Leave the pork belly in the fridge (uncovered) to season overnight. This will dry up the skin.
- Pre-heat oven up to 240C.
- Place pork belly (skin side up) on a rack with a tray lined with aluminium foil to collect the oil drippings.
- Roast the pork belly for 40 minutes.
- Remove the pork belly from the oven and brush the skin with the diluted glazing.
- Reduce heat to 210C and continue to roast till you see " bubble " all over the skin.
- Cool completely before chopping into bite-size pieces and serve.
18 comments:
Congrats ! It looks good and any more left ?
I did this earlier too, but got a chewy skin, next time I will try your, Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Your roast pork is great! I love to eat roast pork especially the crispy skin part but never try to make one by myself. Looking at yours ... really is mouthwatering :)
Pearlyn, thanks! I cut out 1/6 portion to let my MIL try and my family of 2A + 3C finished up the whole lot!
Sonia, wish you success in your next attempt.
Lia, would it be difficult to buy pork from where you are? Do give this a try, the skin is really crispy.
Dun like roast pork. Any idea can use the same recipe for Char Siew? Thanks!---MH
Your roast pork looks very juicy and yummy!
Wow, I am drooling all over my screen ;'p
hehee...Pearly is really an expert on making roast pork and yours also looks very good too.
It's scary...... I did this the same time as u did, that is if u did it on 3/2/10.
I roasted 2kgs yesterday and luckily I don't have a fire alarm at home, if not it'll drown my house with water.
I'm not posting it yet cos I'm too busy.....I just roasted mine for 1 hour plus. I don't think I'll be doing this anysoon cos cleaning up is a major chore. My oven is in such a mess.
MH, I don't think you can use this recipe for char siew.
Angel/HHB, thanks for your kind words.
Anncoo, Pearlyn is definitely master of roast pork!
Wendy, good grief! I made this on 3/2/10 too!! Did the oil splatter all over your oven? Mine was only towards the end, thank goodness it's mainly on the glass door and cleaning up was relatively easy. But the amount of oil collected was beyond my expectation!
Hi
Does it make the interior of oven very oily/messy n requires more time to clean up oven? Thinking of doing it but if alot of cleaning up of oven then i will skip :P
thks for advice
May
Hi May,
I was lucky the oil didn't splatter too much so cleaning up was relatively easy.
thks for answer. The diluted glazing does it refer to the oil dripping collected in the tray during roasting?
May
Hi,
Do you have AMC Atmosfera ? If you have, you can use it to make roast pork.
Anonymous
May, yes, I used the oil drippings collected to brush onto the skin.
Anony, thanks for the reminder. I do have the AMC Atmosfera and it's still sitting in my cupboard. Is the recipe in the cookbook?
Hello, I tried your recipe but noticed that my roast pork skin is not as crispy. Do you know how to make the pork skin crispy?
I'm no expert here but based on my own research on the internet, here are a few ways to ensure you get a crispy skin.
1. Did you score the skin?
2. Did you leave it in the fridge overnight (uncovered) to dry up the skin?
Or maybe, you might want to roast it longer as your oven's temperature may differ from mine.
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