Delicious Siew Yoke I (Chinese Roast Pork)

To make homemade Siew yoke, you have to start with the right cut of meat – that is PORK BELLY. When cooked, the meat will have perfect layers of fat and meat. Do not get any lean piece of pork for this dish, trust me, as the texture and taste which are important will not be the same and the result will also be affected by the temperature of the heat used. The main star in this dish is actually the skin. Once it’s starts crackling, you’ll find yourself focusing more on the cracking than the meat. It’s like as if the meat is in the way of the prize. I mean it!

📝 Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly
• 1 tablespoon salt (for rubbing on pork skin)
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar (for brushing pork skin at 20 mins into roasting)
• 1 cube fermented red bean curd (or nam yue)
• 1/2 tablespoon chinese 5 spice powder (or Ng Heong Fun)
• 1/2 tablespoon white pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Rice wine

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Rub marinate all over meat side of pork belly for a few minutes.
2. 2Place pork belly meat side down in a rectangular baking tray.
3. 3Rub 1 TBsp salt all over the skin.
4. 4Place pork belly meat (uncovered) in refrigerator preferably overnight. The air in the fridge will dry the skin. Remove the meat 1 hr before roasting.
5. 5--- To roast: ---
6. 6Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Have both the upper & lower heating elements & fan in the oven ON.
7. 7Place pork belly on a rack in the middle of the oven. Put a pan covered with aluminium foil below for the dripping fat during roasting.
8. 8Roast for 20 mins. Then change oven setting to upper heating element (grill function or broil function) on. Brush white vinegar onto the skin. This can fasten the cooking process on the pork skin and make it light and crunchy.
9. 9Use some paper kitchen towels to dab the pork skin when you see liquid fat bubbles building up. This will expose the skin and make it more crispy.
10. 10Monitor the roasting by looking at the progress of the skin in getting crispy.
11. 11The pork skin needs to get charred and burnt as this will mean the skin has become really crispy all the way through. When the skin is charred, it means it has cooked all the way through and has become dry, crispy & crunchy. The charred bits can easily be scraped off with a knife that has serrated edge.
12. 12When the homemade Siew Yoke is ready, let it rest about 15 mins. Then CHOP into bite size pieces. Then it’s ready to be served.