During our recent family gathering, I decided to try and roast some pork belly for the dinner. Researching over the internet has brought me to so many versions on how to prepare the best roasted pork a.k.a siu yuk (cantonese) or sio bak (hokkien). After reading those recipes and understand the basic of what a siu yuk must haves and must dos, here’s my version of the delicious meat.

Ingredients:

1. 3-layer pork i.e. must have the skin, the fat and the meat (sam cha), preferably pork belly. Over here, I used about 5 kg pork belly.
2. Salt
3. Five spices powder

Step 1: Blanch the skin with hot boiling water.

Step 2: Poke as many holes as you can on the surface of the skin.

I used a fish descaler to poke ‘em holes.

If you don’t have fancy gadget like mine, you can also use a fork or any other sharp utensils.

Step 3: Pat dry the meat using a kitchen towel or a clean napkin/cloth.

Step 4: Mix 5 portions of the five spices powder with 1 portion of salt. My portion for the 5 kg meat was 5:1 tablespoons.

Step 5: Put a generous amount of salt on the skin. Remember, salt only.

Step 6: Use the marinade in Step 4. Rub it under the skin i.e. the meat surface. You don’t need to rub the sides.

Step 7: Leave it for at least 30 mins for the marinade to be absorbed into the meat. Leaving it overnight in the fridge is recommended.

Step 8: Roast it over high temperature for approx 1 to 2 hours. In my case, it took me around 2 hours for it to be golden brown, fully cooked and juicy.

Step 9: Half way through roasting, turn it over so that it roast evenly. Your siu yuk is ready when the skin forms tiny popping bubbles. That’s the reason why you need to poke the skin at the first place.

Step 10: Additional step: Once cooked, some people may opt to deep fry the skin over hot oil for a minute or so to make it even crispier. I skipped this step because my siu yuk was already crispy enough.

Step 11: Chop it into bite size and it’s ready to be served over your favourite booze. Enjoy!