Roasted Pork (Sio Bak)

Making Roasted Pork for the very 2nd time !


Can watch this video as a reference :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_bLMC7qp1Y

Ingredients :

1kg of pork belly
2tbsp of salt
4 cubes fermented beancurd
2 tbsp 5 spice powder
2 tbsp coarse sea salt
2tbsp white pepper powder
Rice wine/ Shao xing Wine
Rice vinegar ( for brusing over skin)
Metal Skewers
Metal pricker
Brush
Oven

Start by making the marinade. Whisk together preserved red beacurd (紅腐乳/南乳), the juice of the red beancurd, salt,  sugar, five spice powder Shaoxing wine, and white pepper in a bowl.

The mixture should look like that

Poke the skin with teh Metal Pricker .There is no need to poke too deeply.

The more holes you poke, the more blistering there would be later. 

Turn the pork over, and cut some slits on the meat.

Add Slather on the marinade.

Make sure that the marinade gets onto the sides too.

Turn the meat back around. Dry the skin thoroughly with a kitchen towel.

Pour the remaining marinate into a tray/ dish that is about the same size as the meat. Carefully transfer the meat into the tray/ dish, with the skin facing up. Make sure that the skin is REALLY dry. Place the entire tray (uncovered) in the fridge over night for the skin to dry out.

Before roasting, take the pork out of the fridge and place the tray on the kitchen counter for about an hour for the meat to come to room temperature. Near the end of the hour, preheat your oven to 220°C.

It is important that

1. If you have a grilling function on your oven, use that setting.
2. If not, you can still roast the pork, but place the oven shelf closer to the top element.

Poke holes on the skin again using the Meat pricker. Lift the meat onto a wire rack set over a tray which has been lined with aluminium foil. 

Brush Rice Vinegar Unto the skin. Apply a thick layer of salt over the DRY skin. I used kosher salt but you can use whatever salt you prefer.

Roast the pork for 30 minutes at 220°C. At the end of this, reduce the temperature to 180°C and roast a further 45 minutes.

Remove the pork from the oven. If you have a grill function on your oven, switch to that. If not, pre-heat the oven to 230°C. 

Meanwhile, carefully scrape the salt off the pork with a knife. Try not to tear the skin.

Return the pork into the oven for about 20 minutes. The skin will start to crackle and pop.

Keep an eye on the pork during the last 10 minutes. If there is smoke, open the oven door to let the smoke out.

Once done, let the pork rest for 15 minutes (this is important!! Leave the meat alone!) before cutting to serve.

Ta da !! Bon Appetit !


Credit : Some original pictures & wordings from http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com