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It is incredible easy to make and taste just like (or even better) crispy pork belly that you buy from a Chinese restaurant. This video will show you how to make the pork belly crispy and at the same time keep the meat tender and moist.

**Keys to successful crispy crackling**
1. Poke a lot of holes in the skin
2. Air day the skin overnight/at least 6 hrs in the fridge
3. Brush some vinegar/lemon juice on the skin before roasting

*Ingredients*
800g/ 1.7lbs pork belly

seasoning: (I mentioned tablespoons in the video but should be teaspoons)
Chinese cooking wine
1 teaspoon of five spice powder
2 teaspoons of sugar
3 teaspoons of salt

rice vinegar/lemon juice on the pork skin

*steps*

1.We firstly blanch the pork belly by placing it into a pot of boiling water for 5 mins. After that, cool down the pork belly into iced water for another 5 mins.
Blanching is a common technique in Southeast Asian. The mean idea is to get rid of the rough taste of the meat. Also, the pork skin is much easier to get poked through after quick boil.
Meat tenderiser::

2. Scrape the skin with the knife to remove the impurities and hairs.
Pat dry the pork belly with a kitchen paper.

3. poke lots holes in the skin to create the crispy texture. The more holes in the skin, the crispier it will be.

4. Flip the pork belly over. Cut only the meat part into strip size. Do not cut too deep through the skin.

5. Massage the meat part with some chinese cooking wine.

6. Preparing the seasoning . 1 teaspoon five spice powder. 2 teaspoons of sugar. 3 teaspoon of salt.

7. Massage the seasoning all over except the skin.

8. Flip the pork belly over, use a foil paper to wrap the meat part. This is to keep the moisture of the meat when we air dry the whole pork belly in the fridge later.

9. Pat dry the skin. Remove any seasoning attached on the skin otherwise that part will be burnt very easily.

10. Add some sea salt on top to facilitate drawing the water out from the skin.

11. put it the fridge overnight or at least 6 hrs

12. The morning after. Remove the sea salt on the pork belly.

13. Brush some vinegar/lemon juice on the skin. The acidity of the vinegar help conduct the heat and makes the crackling sooner and the pork belly much crisper.

14. Preheat the oven at 400 F/200 C. roast the pork belly for 25 mins (force fan) Each oven is different so the roasting time may vary. The key is to observe the process from time to time to until the skin gets brown and puffy.
(tip: you may put a tray underneath to collect the pork oil. You can use the pork oil for cooking. Or simply mix it with a bowl of plain rice. It tastes really good! Also, it makes cleaning much easier. )

15. Increase the temperature to 480F/ 250C and bake for 5 mins to finish the process.

16. Once done. Cool down the pork belly in room temperature for 20 mins before you cut it. Otherwise, the skin can crack very easily.
Cut it into the small pieces and transfer it into the serving plate.

MORE:
What is 5 spice powder ? Five-spice powder (Chinese: 五香粉; pinyin: wǔxiāng fěn) is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisines and Vietnamese cuisine.

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