Today I attempted roasted pork belly again. I won’t call it siew yoke since it does not taste like the one sold at chicken rice shops.
Before we start, let me show you what I bought from Shoppee.
This looks like a medieval instrument of torture. Great weapon too. I will throw away my parang and use this instead heh..heh…
Now back to my crispy roast pork belly.
I used one strip of pork belly (400g) and not those big slabs simply because Sanbanto does not supply a bigger cut online. Besides it would be too much for me. So one strip is just nice.
Start off by rinsing and then blanching the pork belly for 5 minutes. This is to get rid of impurities and the porky smell. I failed to do this in my first attempt (yes, there was a porky smell).
Give the blanched pork belly a rinse, drain and pat dry with paper towels.
Then using that spiky implement, poke the skin. The idea is to poke and create as many holes as possible to assist in creating a super blistered and crispy skin when the pork belly is roasting.
It is rather tricky, this. It takes some practice. After all the poking, some recipes tell to to use the tip of a sharp knife to lightly score the skin. So that’s what I did.
After that, apply lots of salt on the skin. The salt will help to draw out moisture from the skin so that it can dry out and become crispy when roasted. Then apply some salt to the rest of the pork belly. I used Redmond Real Salt, my current favorite salt.
Then using a piece of aluminum foil, wrap the pork belly, leaving the skin exposed. The foil is to protect the meat so that it does no dry out in the fridge. In my first attempt, the meat was on the dry side because I was not aware of this technique.
I left the pork belly in the fridge overnight. The next day, I took it out from the fridge to stand to room temperature, about one hour. Then using a paper towel, I dabbed the skin to remove excess moisture and also to remove some of the salt.
I had to cut the pork belly into two so that it can fit into my air fryer. I roasted the pork belly at 200C for 30 minutes.
I did check a few times and found that 30 minutes was about right.
Super crispy skin. However, I am not happy as the texture of the skin could have been better. Need to poke more holes! hah..hah.. Although crispy, the skin was hard ie it was a hard crunch, unlike the one from the chicken rice shop.
But oh my, the flesh was moist, tender and melt in your mouth! Overall this was quite successful with room for improvement.
I did not bother to buy five spice powder just for this attempt because I don’t want to be left with excess spices. Just salt as seasoning was good enough.
Crispy Air Fryer Roasted Pork Belly
Recipe source : PH as guided by the many recipes on Youtube
Ingredients :
– One strip pork belly (400g)
– Salt (enough to rub on skin and meat)
Method :
1. Rinse the pork belly and blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. Remove and rinse under running water. Drain and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Using that pokey-pokey tool (what is the proper name, eh?), poke holes on the pork belly skin. The more holes, the better.
4. Then use the tip of a sharp knife to gently score the pork belly skin.
5. Rub lots of salt on the skin. Do not worry about too much salt because the excess salt will be wiped off later.
6. Also rub some salt of the flesh to season it.
7. Then using a strip of aluminum foil, wrap the pork belly but leave the skin exposed.
8. Let the pork belly sit in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin.
9. The next day, take the pork belly out to stand to room temperature 30 min-1 hour.
10. Wipe the skin to remove excess moisture and salt.
11. Roast in the air fryer at 200C for 30 minutes or until the skin becomes crispy and the meat is cooked through.
11. Remove from air fryer and let cool for about 30 minutes before slicing.
Note :
I had to cut the pork belly into two portions to fit into my air fryer.
