Crispy Pork Belly | Siu Yuk 燒肉
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If there is one place that gets me excited about going to Chinatown, it would be Chinese BBQ shops. You know, the restaurants with endless amount of roasted pork, chickens, ducks covered in that sweet and savory sauce hanging right by the window.
While most people go for the popular BBQ Pork (Char Siu) or Crispy Roast Duck, I, on the other hand, often pick the Crispy Pork Belly aka Roast Pig or Siu Yuk 燒肉. Not that I don’t like Char Siu (otherwise I would not go through the trouble to make Char Siu at home), but something special (probably the crispy skin) about Crispy Belly that just gets me every time when it comes to choosing between the crispy belly and BBQ pork.
A perfectly cooked crispy pork belly has this signature golden crispy skin with tender and juicy belly meat. As you take a bit into the crispy skin, the skin literally cracks in your mouth like firecracker! If yours doesn’t sound like in this video, then something is not right.
If you recall, I shared this Chinese BBQ Pork/Char Siu recipe a while ago and it turned out to be really popular on this site. Ever since then, I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the equally delicious Crispy Pork Belly recipe. So two years ago, I decided to include a crispy pork belly recipe in my free Chinese New Year Cookbook. However, for some reason, I still get recipe requests now and then so today I am just going to post the recipe on this site so hopefully everyone gets to make this classic Cantonese pork dish at home.
This homemade version is actually not complicated and the results are quite good, even better than some of the restaurants. If you celebrate Chinese New Year, this could be a great dish to make to impress your guest!
Lastly just a quick note on tools. In my recipe I use this special spiky meat tenderizer to poke holes on the pork sin. If you can’t find it in your local Chinese supermarket, you can use a folk instead. It might just take a little longer.
About Chinese New Year Cookbook
As I mentioned earlier, to celebrate Chinese New Year and share my heritage, 2 years ago I published a free Cookbook with some of my favorite New Year dishes. It’s been popular offering on this site and I get good feedback from readers who have downloaded it. So with Chinese New Year 2016 just around the corner, I am excited to announce that a slightly updated edition will be coming out very soon. The new edition will include a few new recipes as well as updated design to reflect the year of the Monkey.
If you are interested in learning more about this new edition, please stay tuned for the update in the near future.
Crispy Pork Belly | Siu Yuk 燒肉
Prep Time: 8 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 9 hours
Ingredients:
- 2lb pork belly
- 1tbsp white vinegar
- 1tsp baking soda
Brine
- 1tbsp salt
- 3liter water
Seasoning
- 1tbsp salt
- 1.5tsp five spice powder
- 1tsp sugar
- ½tsp sand ginger powder (optional)
Directions:
Pat dry the belly and poke many small holes on the belly skin using the tip of your knife or a special tool shown in the picture. Be careful not to penetrate the skin.
Combine all the seasoning ingredients and mix into a spice mixture. Make two shallow cuts on meat side of the belly. Rub the spice mix evenly on the meat side only.
Turn the pork skin side up. Lightly rub baking soda on the skin. Then evenly brush the vinegar on the skin.
Let the belly marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight for better flavor and texture.
Preheat the oven to 380F. Wrap the pork belly with aluminum foil exposing the skin.
Roast the pork belly for 50 minutes. Then switch to broil and boil the skin for 5 minutes to turn the skin bubbly and crispy. To avoid burning the skin, try to move around the pork so it gets even heating.
Cool off the belly on a cooling rack. Scrap off any charred skin. Slice the pork to cubes and serve it hot with hoisin sauce.
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I modified the recipe a little bit to add more flavor to the pork.. After blanching the pork belly, I smoked the pork bellies in my stovetop smoker for 20 minutes before marinating it. It had a wonderful smoked Mesquite flavor in addition to the crispy pork skin. A Texas-Cantonese fusion that you can’t find in restaurants :).
Yum! Texas-Cantonese fusion sounds like a great combo! I’ll have to try smoking my crispy pork next time. Thanks for tips!
Hi, i’m planning to try to make it this weekend, but i’m still a beginner at cooking and was a little confused on what you meant by broil and boil for 5 min. Can you please clarify for me. Thanks!
Hi Alex, thanks for checking out my recipe. To boil is just to cook it in boiling water. To broil is to grill under direct flame. If your oven has a broiler, you can switch to that function at and broil for 5 minutes to get that layer of crunchy skin. I hope this answers your question. Please don’t hesitate to let me konw if you have any other questions.
Thanks very much for this recipe. I can not wait to try it out. How hot should oven be?
Hi Pam, please roast at 380F or 193C and then use the broiler to crisp the skin. Hope this helps.
Yi, thanks for sharing this recipe. I made this last night and it turned out incredible- just got to learn how to be able to chop them up as neatly as you did! I’ve tried making this dish with other recipes but they never did turn out ‘authentic’ or right. I’m originally from Singapore and I grew up eating Siu Yoke. To be able to re-create this dish in my humble UK kitchen transported me right back to the times i’ve been having this in a hot hawker centre in Singapore. Will definitely be trying your other recipes. Cheers!
Hello Vanessa, thank you for the feedback and I am really happy to hear that the recipe worked out for you. I’ve never been to Singapore (it’s on my list forever) and would love to try the local version when I am there 🙂
Yi, did I miss something about wiping the baking soda off. I din’t and it gave the top of the pork belly a terrible bitter taste. Can’t tell you how miffed I am after spending my Sunday making this dish and serving over fried rice. What did I do wrong
hi Suanne, I normally don’t wipe off the baking soda but I’ve never got that bitter taste. I don’t pack the baking soda on the rind but instead just lightly rub on. Was the skin really charred? If so perhaps moving the rack down so you have a better control of broiler?
I know your post is over a year old, but here goes… I have read on other sites that baking soda can indeed make the skin bitter. The baking soda helps with crisping the skin by drying it. After using a very small amount of baking soda (say 1/2 teaspoon over the skin of a 2 lb chunk of pork belly) and letting the pork belly dry overnight, use the vinegar to neutralize the baking soda. If the vinegar foams up there is too much baking soda on the meat and you may need to rinse it (which would defeat the overnight drying but at least it will be edible).
I must stress I am no expert. I am trying to explore pork belly (and in the process, I am developing one myself) and reading all I can on the topic.
Hi Mark, thanks for your tips. I have actually been using the vinegar and baking soda combo lately and I do like the results better. No one is an expert here so I really appreciate your helpful input!
I need that meat spike. Tried making siu yuk once and the skin tasted like jerky instead of crispy. Definitely trying out your recipe for the family dinner next weekend.
Thank You and Gong Xi Fa Cai!!
thank you for checking out the recipe. Please let me know how the dish came out.
Looks great but could you please tell me what 1/2 sand ginger powder is?
Thanks
Hi Iris, thanks for checking out the recipe. It’s supposed to read 1/2tsp sand ginger powder. I just revised it. Sand ginger is a dried spice used quite often in Chinese cooking. A sand ginger looks like this and you might find the whole spice or in the powder form at Chinese supermarkets.
Your crispy pork belly looks even better than some of the awesome restaurants in HK. Awesome execution! I bet it was super delicious and crispy. I can’t wait to give your recipe a go!
Thanks BAM! Would love to hear how this version compares to the ones in HK!
Any specific type of vinegar? Rice wine, white, apple cider? Does the meat tastes sour due to the vinegar?
hi Judy, i normally use white vinegar. It does not make meat taste sour because by the time the meat is fully cooked all the vinegar is already evaporated. Hope this answers your question.
*bought
That looks amazing. You sure it wasn’t but at the store?!
Thanks for checking out the recipe. I assure you this is homemade and perhaps even better than some of the store bought 🙂
Oh this looks so good! My local butcher often has pork belly and I usually just roast it but this looks so much better! Bookmarking this!!! Love your descriptions and pictures too!
Thanks Leah for checking out this recipe.
Love pork belly! So much flavor. I’ve had this dish, but never made it myself. But now I know how! 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks John. Glad you love this dish as well!
Hello Yi
I hope to try this declious looking receipe soon. But I have one question. The meat look as it still has the rind on it. Is this correct? Do you brine and cook the pork belly with the rind?
Keep up the great work. I really enjoy your receipes
Hi Sonja, thanks for checking out the site. Yes, the rind is on and the crispy layer is created from the rind. Hope this helps!
Ohhh that looks really crispy! Yum!
Thanks Raymund. Yes it was very crispy!
I found your site while looking for the Chinese Eight-treasure sticky rice pudding, which I am going to attempt to make on for our new year lunch.
I am also going to make the song gua zhong soup in the melon, and five flavoured red cooked whole pork roast.
Any suggestions as to what vegetables I should serve?
Pu-Chin
Hello, thanks for visiting my site. For five spice red cooked pork, some times I also add some potatoes to the roast to make it a complete meal. As for the veggies, a stir fried pea shoot dish (if you can find it) would be awesome. Otherwise I’d serve Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce.
My mouth is watering terribly….that skin looks really crisp.
Thanks Angie