Crisp Chinese Roast Pork Food

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.

CRISP CHINESE PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Rub the pork with the five-spice and 2 tsp sea salt then leave, uncovered, in the fridge for at least 2 hrs, but preferably overnight. When ready to cook, heat oven to its maximum setting. Lay the pork on a rack over a roasting tin, making sure the skin is exposed. Roast for 10 mins before turning down the heat to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4, then leave to cook for a further 1½ hrs. Have a look at the pork - if the skin isn't crisp, turn up the heat to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7, then cook for another 30 mins until crisp. Leave to rest on a board for at least 10 mins.
• To make the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients together with 2 tbsp water. Cut the pork into small pieces, then serve with the sauce, plus boiled rice and steamed greens, if you like.

CHINESE CRISPY ROAST PORK (SIEW YUK)

Steps:

• Wash and dry your meat thoroughly. Score the skin in vertical lines about 1 inch apart as they will become the guidelines where to chop the meat once cooked.
• Mash all the other ingredients together to make a paste. Smear the paste all over the roast working it into the skin and meat. Put the roast in a pan that will let the fat drain through (a wire rack over a baking sheet will do in a pinch), and place in refrigerator covered overnight.
• When ready to cook, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F, and when hot enough, stick the pan in the over for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, the skin should just be turning brown (if it's getting too dark, turn down the heat sooner). Reduce the heat to 250 degrees F and let it roast for about 8 hours. You'll know it's ready when most of the fat has rendered out and the meat has started pulling away from the bone.
• When it's ready, take it out of the oven, transfer it to a different pan (you could do it in the same pan, but the fat that's collected in this pan will smoke and set your smoke alarms off). Put it back into a 450 degree F oven to crisp the skin for 15-20 minutes. The skin should be puffed up, crisp and golden brown.
• Take it out of the oven and let it rest for a bit. You'll probably want to take the skin off and break it up by hand, slicing the slabs of tender pork separately.

ROAST CRISPY PORK

Steps:

• Pierce the rind side of the pork (a roasting fork is good for this) until the skin is covered with fine holes. Put the joint rind side up on a rack over the sink. Bring a pot of water to the boil and, using a large ladle, pour hot water over the rind side of the pork several times. Set the pork aside.
• Heat a wok or large frying pan until it is very hot. Add the salt, peppercorns and five-spice and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until hot and well mixed. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar, then allow to cool slightly. When it is warm enough to handle, rub this mixture on the flesh side of the pork. Leave, flesh side up, on the rack at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours (overnight is ideal).
• To roast Sichuan peppercorns: heat a wok or heavy frying pan to a medium heat. Add the peppercorns (you can cook about 140g/5oz at a time) and stir-fry them for about 5 minutes until they brown slightly and start to smoke. Remove from the heat and let them cool. Grind the peppercorns in a pepper mill or using a mortar and pestle. Seal tightly in a screw-top jar until required. Alternatively, keep the whole roasted peppercorns in a well-sealed container and grind them when required.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/ fan 180C. Turn the pork rind side up on the rack and put the rack over a roasting tin with 2-3cm hot water in the bottom. Roast for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C and continue to roast for 2 hours, checking every now and then that your tin is not dry - splash in some hot water from the kettle if it is. Increase the heat to 230C/gas 8/fan 210C for the last 15 minutes. Remove the pork from the oven and leave it to rest (about 20 minutes). Serve carved into large cubes.