Chinese Red Roasted Pork Belly Recipes

CHINESE ROAST PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), arrange a pan on the bottom 1/3 of oven rack and fill with water. The pork belly should be roasted using the rack above it.
• Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.
• Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.
• Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.
• Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly.
• Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven.
• Place the pork belly at the top 1/3 of the oven and roast for 1 hour. While baking, the oil will drip to the bottom pan with water.
• Bake until the salt crust forms, the salt should be hardened. Check water in the pan below and add if needed. This is how the pork belly and salt crust will look like in the oven. You have to insert the garlic deep inside the horizontal slits or else they will be pushed out during the roasting process.
• Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.
• Raise the heat of oven to 465°F (240°C), place the pork belly back in the oven and roast for another 40 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.
• Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is.

CHINESE RED-COOKED PORK BELLY, BRAISED

Steps:

• Heat oil in a wok or dutch oven until shimmering.
• Add sugar to oil. Mix constantly until it melts (~370F).
• Add pork belly and sear until golden brown. Stir constantly and scrape bits of sugar that have stuck to the pot. The sugar will burn quickly so pay attention.
• Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, and water. Add ginger and star anise. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer.
• After an 45 minutes to an hour, remove meat to serving bowl. Boil sauce until desired consistency and skim off scum and fat. Pour over meat.
• Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds. Serve.

RED-BRAISED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Bring large saucepan of water to a boil. Add pork and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high; cook 5 minutes. Transfer with tongs to cutting board; let cool enough to handle. Cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) chunks. Set aside.
• Heat oil in wok or large (4-L) saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cook while stirring until it's melted and light brown; about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add rice wine. Note mixture may splatter and steam.
• Stir in pork, broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise and cinnamon stick; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Slice 2 green onions into 2-inch (5-cm) lengths. Add ginger to cutting board; hit sliced green onions and ginger several times with back of knife to lightly bruise and crush. Stir into pork mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook until pork is fork-tender, about 1 hour.
• Uncover, skim fat from surface of cooking liquid and discard. Increase heat to medium and cook uncovered stirring often until sauce is thick and syrupy; about 15 to 20 minutes. Discard star anise and cinnamon stick. Transfer pork mixture to serving bowls. Thinly slice remaining green onion; sprinkle over top of pork mixture. Garnish with cilantro.
• Chef's tip: If you can't find pork belly, use 900 g boneless pork shoulder roast instead.