Most of you who know me well know of my love for all things pork. Besides ribs, the belly cut is my favorite part of the pig. The Chinese have been making excellent crackling for as far back as I could remember, and during the Christmas season, decided to do something which had the crackling of the siu yoke but the flavor of the season.
This is quite a simple, straight forward recipe but if done right, produces a crackling that is extremely crispy and a meat that melts in your mouth. The only problem is that this takes up a lot of time, but trust me, it's worth it!
Ingredients
1kg pork belly
Half of a yellow onion, roughly chopped
One whole garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs of Rosemary, roughly chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
1 orange, sliced
Some orange juice
Half bottle of orange marmalade
Salt
20pcs Cloves
Rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plain flour
Method
With a meat pricker, prick the skin thoroughly
Using a sharp knife, score the skin
Turn the meat over to the flesh side, poke small holes and stuff the cloves in them
Rub a mixture of chopped garlic, onions, rosemary, thyme and orange marmalade
Put it on a pan, skin side up and fill it with orange juice until it reaches just below the skin
Rub salt on the skin and let it sit for 4 hours in room tempreature
When that's all done, put the pan in an oven, preheated to 250 degree Celsius and lower the temperature to 160 degree Celsius for 1 hour
When the first hour's up, increase the temperature to 180 degree Celsius
When the second hour's up, increase the temperature to 200 degree Celsius
When the third hour's up, spray some rice wine vinegar on the skin, increase the temperature to 250 degree Celsius and leave it in the oven until the skin is slightly charred. Don't worry if it's too charred as you can scrape it off at the end of it all
When the meat's done, let it rest for 30 mins before cutting it.
With the remainder of the liquids in the pan, heat it up and add some flour to thicken it and you will have an excellent sauce to go with the meat.
I was so anxious to eat it I totally forgot to take a picture of it before it was cut! Believe me, it was mouth watering!
So, try this and enjoy the results. It's totally worth the work and more!
