Crispy Roasted Pork Belly (脆皮燒肉)

The key to a classic Chinese roast with golden brown, blistered and crunchy crackling lies in the dryness of the skin and also a searing hot oven to begin with to get the crackling going.

There are many theories about crackling - brushing the skin with vinegar, scalding the skin, scoring the skin before oiling and rubbing salt, etc etc.  I followed these theories before but the results were not consistent.  Sometimes I would get very crispy crackling but other times I got some hard and unblistered crackling ... until a friend who kindly shared her recipe with me. 
  

To get the perfect crackling - 

• I left my marinated pork to dry out uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. 

• Then I rubbed a generous amount of oil all over the skin before scattering enough salt to cover the entire surface.  The oil will start to heat up in the extremely hot oven (230 deg C) and the salt will begin to draw out the moisture and the skin itself will start to crack, puff and bubble like little blisters.

• After 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 200 deg C.  The rule of thumb is to allow 25 minutes per 500g of pork.  

Ingredients:
2 slabs of pork belly (1.5kg)
oil
salt

Marinade:
2 pieces of red fermented beancurd (nam yue) - mashed
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp five-spiced powder
2 tsp sugar

• Wash the pork and pat dry with kitchen towel.
• In a small bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and mix well.  
• Turn the pork skin-side down on a rack and using the tip of a knife, prick all over the pork.
• Rub the marinade evenly all over, including the sides (but not the skin).  
• Place the pork, skin-side up in a tray or a container and wipe the skin thoroughly with paper towel.  Leave the pork in the refrigerator, uncovered overnight.  
• Bring the pork to room temperature before roasting (at least 2 hours).
• The skin will dry out after refrigerated overnight.  If not, give it a little blow-dry with hair dryer. (The drier the skin, the better the cackling when roasted).
• Preheat oven to 230 deg C.
• Place pork, skin-side up on a rack set over a roasting pan.  
• Drizzle oil all over the skin of the pork, then sprinkle enough salt to fully cover the entire skin.  
• Put the pork into the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
• Then reduce the oven to 200 deg C and continue roasting for another 50 - 55 mins.
• Remove meat from the oven and allow to rest for 10 - 15 mins before cutting.  Brush away excess salt.  

For easier cleaning after roasting, I prefer to use my Turbo Oven which is similar to the fan-forced convection oven.