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Hóng Kitchen

Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

Chinese · Hard · Serves 6–8

Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)
Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)
The Cantonese roast canon's second window and the crackling doctrine's supreme expression: a whole slab of pork belly, its skin salted and dried overnight, its meat seasoned from within, and roasted until the skin blisters to the glass-shatter the siu mei shop's windows hang in rows — the siu yuk that the Cantonese kitchen considers the roast canon's highest technical achievement. The technique is the skin's preparation (the scoring, the salt's layer, the overnight's drying) and the two-stage roast (the skin's blast at the highest heat, the meat's gentle finish).

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The pork

The skin's preparation

The meat's marinade — inside the cavity

  • mixed and rubbed into the meat's face (the cavity between the ribs and the flesh) and the belly's underside

The roast's aid

- The skin's preparation — the overnight's sequence: the skin scored at its crosshatch (the full-thickness cuts through to the fat — the scoring is the blister's architecture), the vinegar's wipe (the skin's pH and its drying's aid), and the salt's thick layer (the salt drawing the skin's surface moisture overnight) — the slab refrigerated uncovered, the salt's layer intact, for 12–24 hours. Checkpoint — at the roast's eve, the salt's layer has drawn the skin's moisture visibly (the salt's crystals damp at the surface), and the skin beneath is dry and tight to the slab — the overnight's drying and the salt's draw the two preparations the blister demands. - The salt's removal at the roast's start: the salt's layer brushed off (the skin's surface dried again with a paper towel), and the meat's marinade refreshed at its face.
Step 1. The first roast — 45 minutes at 160 °C, the meat's gentle cook. The slab on the rack (the skin's face up, the meat's face down), the water bath beneath, and the oven's first stage run at the meat's own patience — the fat's slow render and the flesh's cook-through. Checkpoint — at 45 minutes, the meat's internal temperature reads 70 °C–75 °C at the slab's thickest, the flesh cooked through and the fat's edge softened — the meat's whole cook complete before the skin's stage begins (the skin's blast will add no meaningful heat to the interior at its brief, fierce minutes).
Step 2. The blast — 25 to 35 minutes at 250 °C, the skin's blister. The oven at its maximum, the slab's skin directly facing the heat's source (the top shelf's proximity or the grill's fierce element), and the skin watched through the door's glass: the blisters forming and rising across the skin's scored surface — the crosshatch's cuts the blistering's channels — and the skin's colour deepening to the mahogany gold the siu mei window shows. Checkpoint — at the blast's end, the skin's whole surface is blistered and risen (the bubbles' architecture across every scored square), the colour a deep, even mahogany, and the tap of a fingernail at the skin's surface sounds the glass-shatter's promise — the siu yuk's crackling, built in the blast's minutes. Pull at the first dark square's warning (a burnt blister's black patch the line: the blast's minutes watched in person, and the foil's shield at any premature darkening). Chef’s Note — the scoring and the blistering are the crackling's whole engineering and the siu yuk's two-step argument: the scored cuts (1 cm intervals, through the skin's full thickness) provide the blistering's channels — the skin's moisture, driven to steam at the blast's 250 °C, escapes through the cuts and lifts the skin's surface into the bubbles of the blistered crackling, each scored square becoming its own blister's dome — and the unscored skin's steam lifts the whole sheet from the fat's surface (the bubble's one large dome rather than the many small, and the crackling's sheet rather than the crumble). The crosshatch is the architecture; the overnight's drying is the steam's own supply's management (a wet skin's excess steam blows the blisters to the burst); and the two together are the technique the siu mei shop's rows display.
Step 3. The rest and the break — 15 minutes, then the crackling's ceremony. The slab rested 15 minutes (the meat's juices settling under the crackling's roof), and the skin's break at the table or the board: the crackling's sheet scored with the knife's edge (the crackling cracks rather than cuts — the scored tap and the break at the line), and the portions cut through the crackling's line and the meat's depth. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first piece's crackling — the glass-shatter at the bite, the blistered dome's collapse — and the meat's soft, five-spiced savour beneath, the fat's silk between — the Cantonese roast canon's highest technical achievement, at the home oven's honest summit. Chef’s Note — the two-stage roast's separation — the meat's gentle 45 at 160 °C, the skin's fierce 25–35 at 250 °C — is the siu yuk's own argument and the roast canon's most complete expression of the two-doneness problem the Peking duck record taught: the meat's finish (the pork's 70–75 °C) and the skin's finish (the blister's 250 °C-plus) are separated by more than 100 degrees, and the stages' sequence — the meat first, the skin's blast last, at the interior's own safety — is the only architecture that delivers both at their own correct moment. The water bath's presence at the first stage (the oven's humidity's gentle protection of the meat's face) and its removal at the blast (the dry heat's blistering's demand) are the stages' own climate control, and the two ovens in one are the technique's whole.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

  • The preparation: the scored crosshatch at 1 cm, the vinegar's wipe, the salt's overnight layer — the skin dried to its tightest.
  • The first roast: 45 minutes at 160 °C to the meat's 70–75 °C.
  • The blast: 25–35 at 250 °C to the blistered mahogany and the glass-tap.
  • The rest and the break: 15 minutes, the crackling's scored tap and its clean break.

Finish & Plate

The slab's crackling broken at the table's ceremony and the portions plated with the rice — the siu mei shop's plate, with the mustard or the soy at the side. The leftover crackling softens (the refrigerator's honest law) and the meat's slices fill the fried rice and the noodle soup by right.

Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

Crispy Roast Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

Prep: 30 minutes, plus overnight drying · Cook: 1 hour 15 minutes · Total: Overnight plus about 1 hour 50 minutes · Serves 6–8

Ingredients

The pork

  • 1.5 kg pork belly slab, skin on, the ribs' bone removed (the butcher's favour), at one even thickness

The skin's preparation

  • 2 tbsp (30 g) coarse sea salt, for the skin's overnight layer (the pork itself, 1.5 kg of belly, carrying perhaps 500 g of fat beneath the skin)
  • The scoring: the skin's crosshatch at 1 cm intervals, cut through the skin's full thickness to the fat's first layer (a sharp knife's light strokes, the blade held at the angle)

The meat's marinade — inside the cavity

  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy, 1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp (15 g) five-spice powder, 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar, 2 tsp (10 g) salt, 1 tsp (3 g) white pepper — mixed and rubbed into the meat's face (the cavity between the ribs and the flesh) and the belly's underside

The roast's aid

  • A rack and a roasting pan, a water bath beneath
  • The skin's vinegar wipe: 1 tbsp (15 ml) rice vinegar, rubbed before the salt

Instructions

  1. The first roast — 45 minutes at 160 °C, the meat's gentle cook. The slab on the rack (the skin's face up, the meat's face down), the water bath beneath, and the oven's first stage run at the meat's own patience — the fat's slow render and the flesh's cook-through. Checkpoint — at 45 minutes, the meat's internal temperature reads 70 °C–75 °C at the slab's thickest, the flesh cooked through and the fat's edge softened — the meat's whole cook complete before the skin's stage begins (the skin's blast will add no meaningful heat to the interior at its brief, fierce minutes).
  2. The blast — 25 to 35 minutes at 250 °C, the skin's blister. The oven at its maximum, the slab's skin directly facing the heat's source (the top shelf's proximity or the grill's fierce element), and the skin watched through the door's glass: the blisters forming and rising across the skin's scored surface — the crosshatch's cuts the blistering's channels — and the skin's colour deepening to the mahogany gold the siu mei window shows. Checkpoint — at the blast's end, the skin's whole surface is blistered and risen (the bubbles' architecture across every scored square), the colour a deep, even mahogany, and the tap of a fingernail at the skin's surface sounds the glass-shatter's promise — the siu yuk's crackling, built in the blast's minutes. Pull at the first dark square's warning (a burnt blister's black patch the line: the blast's minutes watched in person, and the foil's shield at any premature darkening).
  3. The rest and the break — 15 minutes, then the crackling's ceremony. The slab rested 15 minutes (the meat's juices settling under the crackling's roof), and the skin's break at the table or the board: the crackling's sheet scored with the knife's edge (the crackling cracks rather than cuts — the scored tap and the break at the line), and the portions cut through the crackling's line and the meat's depth. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first piece's crackling — the glass-shatter at the bite, the blistered dome's collapse — and the meat's soft, five-spiced savour beneath, the fat's silk between — the Cantonese roast canon's highest technical achievement, at the home oven's honest summit.

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The slab serves the day (the crackling's own clock) and the meat's leftovers keep 4 days — the fried rice and the noodle soup's standing treasure. The dried, prepared slab holds 48 hours before the roast. - The canon's seat: the crackling doctrine's supreme master — the scored crosshatch, the salt's draw, and the two-stage roast — and the Cantonese roast canon's highest technical achievement at the home oven.