Yesterday, we had a BBQ on the beach, so we decided to bring Korean Style Short-Ribs.  While shopping for meat, Jax saw that pork belly was a decent price, so she picked up a couple packs for ourselves.  Co-incidentally, one of her friends just asked about how to make pork belly, so this is the perfect opportunity for another post!  (JT, this is all for you!) Differing slightly from the bbq pork I made for the char siu bao, this one is more traditional Siu Yuk style — super crispy skin!

Diablo has a dual meaning — yes, it is cooked in a temperature that rivals the fires of Hell, but more importantly, I’ve gotten re-addicted to playing Diablo III 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 packages Pork Belly
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 head of Garlic
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• Dash of Chinese 5 Spice
• 1/3 cup Cooking Wine
• 1 cup Salt (Kosher works well, but table salt will do)
• Dash of Hoi Sin Sauce
• Dash of Sesame Oil

Prep:

Wash your pork, and dry thoroughly.  You don’t want any moisture on the skin at all.

Mince your garlic, and throw into a dish that is large enough to fit the pork belly.

Add in the soy sauce, as well as cooking wine.  Throw in the brown sugar and give it all a stir.

I add a splash of secret sauce 🙂

Place the Pork Belly in the marinade, ensuring the skin doesn’t touch it.

Cover, and refrigerate overnight.  If you really want to make the pork soak up the marinade, poke holes in the meat.

Cooking:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Grab a large roasting pan, and put in a layer of water.  Grab a wire rack, place it over the pan, and lay your pork belly evenly across it.

Make a salt-crust layer.

To make it easier to work with, add in a splash of water.  You don’t want to add too much — just enough to crystalize it.

Spread the salt evenly over the pork belly skin.

Bake for 45 mins.  Remove when the salt crust begins to brown.

It will easily come off just by using your hands.

Dust off the remaining salt crystals that may be left on the skin.

Raise the temperature of the oven to 475 F.  Time to scorch the skin!  Place the belly back into the oven, and cook for another 20-30 mins.  Watch it to ensure it doesn’t burn.

While it’s doing the final roasting, grab the leftover marinade, add in some sesame oil, and hoi sin sauce, and boil it down.  This will make a great dipping accompaniment for the belly!

When the belly is done, take it out of the oven, and let it cool for 10 minutes.  When you slice it, you will get a beautiful cracking sound from the skin!

Ta da!  There you have it!  Crispy Siu Yuk!  This is best eaten with real rice, but cauliflower rice will do as well.