Introduction: The Secret to CRUNCHY Crispy Pork Belly!

STEP１

Make sure you get a nice, fairly lean piece of pork belly. It must have three clear layers, like the one in the video.

STEP 2

Prepare a pot with:

  • water
  • 3 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine
  • some ginger

Once it begins to boil, add your pork belly in. Turn the heat to medium and cook it for 10 minutes.

STEP ３

Take it out of the pot and dry it completely. Let it cool down to room temperature.

STEP 4

While letting it cool down, we can make the dry rub:

  • 1 tbsp of sugar
  • 2 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of black pepper
  • 1 tsp of five spice

Just mix it together- super simple, but tasty.

STEP 5

After the pork is cooled down to room temperature, we use a fork to poke holes on the skin side- as much as possible. Make it deep, all the way down to the second layer of fat. Take a paper towel and wipe the fat off. Put a pinch of salt on the skin, and massage it until the salt is gone. Then put the skin done on a clean towel to keep the skin dry.

STEP 6

Take a knife and cut the pork in 1-inch pieces, but DON'T cut through the skin.

STEP 7

Then rub some rose cooking wine (or regular cooking wine) onto the pork- it will make your meat a smell good. Season the pork with the dry rub we just made. Be generous; make sure every side is covered well except the skin. If you apply to the skin by accident, please wipe it off. If not, the skin will turn black in the oven- you don’t want that.

STEP 8

Use some sticks to hold the shape. Then take foil and fold it like a box. Leave the skin-side exposed. Put it in the fridge overnight.

STEP 9

When you take it out of the fridge, the skin should look really dry. Apply:

  • 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp of sesame oil

to the skin. Apply it as evenly as possible. The baking powder is going to cause a chemical reaction, making the skin super crispy.

STEP 10

Finally, put it in the middle of a 400-degree oven and bake it for 40 minutes. Then, transfer it to the top tray for 10-20 more minutes. If you have a broil option on your oven, use that. Be careful, as every oven is different. You want it crunchy, not burnt. You can see how I check the crunchiness in the video if you're not sure!

TO RECAP

The secret to super crunchy crispy pork belly is the poking a lot of holes into the skin and applying the baking powder + sesame oil right before baking it in the oven. So, if you already have a favorite recipe, apply this trick and it should improve it!

If you have any questions, you can find me on YouTube! Just comment on this video: https://youtu.be/Bxvz9aQdsMw