Can you believe it that I actually made my own ROAST PORK??? Yeah also known as "siew yuk" in Cantonese. I was inspired by Piggy's post on her roast pork belly using the recipe gotten from Famous Cuisine Publication's range of bi-lingual (Mandarin and English) food magazines and cookbooks. It would be great though if Famous Cuisine Publication can translate the articles, tips and such into English as well. Currently, only the recipes are available in both languages.
Anyway, back to how I went about with my pork belly. I marinaded the meat side with salt, sugar, red fermented bean curd ("nam yue" in Cantonese), five spice powder and chopped garlic for a few hours in the fridge. Sprinkled some sea salts on the skin side before roasting in the oven. After 20 minutes, removed from oven and pricked the skin with sharp fork (the more holes you prick the better cos that's where those popped-up "bubbles" appear on the skin) before brushing with rice vinegar. Back into the oven for another 20 minutes... voila, a lovely roasted pork lightly fragranted with 5 spice powder and a hint of garlic; plus uber crispy skin which I guess the part where most of us loved.
The recipe that I had tweaked (it called for MSG but I omitted it) is as follows:
Roast Pork Belly
Ingredients:
2 kg pork belly (with skin)
2 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar
Marinade:
3 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 pieces red fermented bean curd, use 2 if the cubes are bigger
1/2 tbsp five spice powder
11/2 tbsp chopped garlic
Clean the pork belly (ensure no more hairs on the skin side) and pat dry all over with kitchen towel. Score (both diagonally and horizontally) the inner portion of the meat. Rub all over the skin with the sea salt.
Rub marinade mixture evenly into the meat right down into the scored areas. Marinate for about 30 mins or longer. I did mine for about 6 hours.
Bake the marinated pork belly with skin side up in pre-heated oven at 220C for 20 mins. Remove from oven and prick all over the surface of the skin with a sharp instrument or like me, I just used a fork but please don't use those aluminium ones hahaha cos they bend easily.
Next, brush the skin with the rice vinegar. Bake again with the skin side up at 250C for another 20-30 minutes, or until pop-up "bubbles" have formed on the skin. Remove and let the pork belly rest for 15-20 mins before chopping it up.
Well, I didn't know it was sooo easy but one peeve though the oil from the pork belly splattered all over my oven.... arrrrghhhh so much cleaning up to do!!! There are still some residue though but I did try to scrub hard but there are still loads of nooks and corners that I can't reach. So, anyone here have any tips??? Mine is the built-in type and does not have self-cleansing function. HELPPP!!! I would love to make this again and again but then the thought of cleaning up make me shudders with apprehension. Thanks in advance for any tips or advices given.
Technorati Tags: roast pork + pork
thanks for your recipe ... finally i can make my own siew yoke ledi !!!!!
ReplyDeleteon the issue of the oven, you need to purchase some over cleaner or degreaser to aid in cleaning it. nx time wrap aluminium foil over the G yoke can anot ar? u think will affect the results anot?
Drools, it looks so lovely! I didn't know that the skin can get crispy so easily. This will be my next project too. Thanks a million and to Piggy too.
ReplyDeletewingz, oven cleaner? mana beli? any brand can recommend or not?? i'm not sure if can wrap in foil or not, wonder if it affect the bubbling/cracking of the skin. eh we ask lilian to cuba? :p
ReplyDeleteya ya lilian very easy btw if there are spots that are not crispy yet, just go prick some more and brush with vinegar before baking again.
5xmom : Piggy Too is lilian Too mia relative ka? lol!
ReplyDeletebabe : i think hyper in kl got sell geh, if tarak then u look for me lar i can help
ReplyDeleteomg that is seriously drool-worthy! I want to try it too but how do you specify which part of the meat you want when you buy it? Or just tell the butcher its for siew yoke? Oh and also where are you getting your sea salt? I've seen some but terribly expensive :\ Thanks! :)
ReplyDelete**EXTREMELY NON-HALAL**
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! No kidding :P
Nice post, must try this project too!
ooo..yum yum! look better than some store bought! btw, lovely new layout
ReplyDeleteplease pos laju some to me!!!!! NOW!
ReplyDeleteoooooo, looks sinfully goooood!
ReplyDeleteWOW looks like we have a lot of siew yuk fans *chuckle*
ReplyDeletethanks wingz, i check out first if cannot then i tell you
tuktoyaktuk, ask for "larm mei" or "5 far larm" or "far larm" else just tell the butcher you want to make siew yuk and they'll know which part. it's actually the belly part where you can see a few layers of meat interpersed with fat.
as for the sea salt, i got mine from a vegetarian shop sometime back. it's kosher sea salt which i've seen it at organic shops and also some hypermarts that have an organic section. you don't need a large bag as you only use them sparingly. a small packet costed less than RM10 well unless you get those really good ones that can ran up to RM20!!!
julian, you must try this, pretty simple just that it's a biatch to clean up the oven!!!
rachel, yeah just like store bought, its really unbelievable eh?
KY, i made this a few weeks back lah... fed to Indah Waters already :p
yeah boo_licious, very sinful and worst thing i dun like such fatty meat. i had to spit out the fats hahaha which i think the siew yuk lovers will bash me up!!! i tried to ask for leaner portion but my butcher told me it won't be nice as the lean part will get too tough.
Haha! you've finally tried it out! it's super easy, isn't it? I have the same prob with the oven too, i scrubbed for hours and the grease is still there! urgh!
ReplyDeletenice....very nice.....
ReplyDeletewrapping with alu foil will not render the skin crispy. Maybe you can first wrap it for the first 20 minutes and then prick the skin to release the oil. Keep them wrapped up but exposed the skin.
That way, you might not have so much of stain in ur oven from the oil. If not, place them in a deeper container so the splash will be around the container...can we do that ? not sure ler....
arrrggh babe, i cannot post comments in your haloscan. after i hit submit, it keeps saying "please wait 9 secs before posting a comment". hit submit 2nd time, it says "please wait 30 secs before posting". i'm going crazy!! why huh? is there an anti-spam or sumthing?
ReplyDeleteanyway here's what i wrote lah :
"ya sure, i wanna try. but i'm always procrastinating lol. so many recipes, so little time. how? in fact, i've always wanted to make my own bak kua too :p well, will see how lor hehe. but seriously, yours look good. you're so talented."
piggy, i saw a bottle of oven cleaner yesterday and i bought it even though it costed rm18!!! i will try it this weekend and see if its worth the money then i let you know what brand ;-)
ReplyDeletemike, i will try your suggestion next time. thanks
sorry evan. i've no idea but most likely haloscan have some problem. free one mah so cannot complain too much hehe. wahh i really blushing already... not talent lorr more like a bit hard working hahaha... if not lazy and pressing for time, there would be more goodies coming out from the kitchen. looking forward to your siew yuk post ;-)
hi babe, da siu yook looks lovely and yummy!!!!! I must say that you are such a good cook!!!!
ReplyDeletethanks for your compliment meiyen
ReplyDeleteBabe .... I tried it!!!....
ReplyDeleteWas out shopping yesterday and decided on the fly to make it... then hubby got so excited that I was making it.. i left out some ingredients :P (we left out the fermented bean curd -- he didn't want that one)
It turned out great... he whalloped EVERYTHING. Though, the skin didn't go as bubbly as I would've liked it to be... must be not enough poking.
THANKS :D .... Hubby likes it so much he wants another round of it next week!
p.s (Do tell if the oven cleaner works :P)
ReplyDeletewooohoooo that was great cyrene!!!! btw, you could poke some more then brush the vinegar before stuffing into the oven for a while. errr i can only let you know if the cleaner works after i made my next batch :p
ReplyDeletewowee! looks absolutely delicious. i definitely want to try this now. thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeletecheers,
lindsay.
hope you'll like it linsay
ReplyDeleteHI everyone, hope this blog is still open.
ReplyDeleteHere is my recipe - a little cryptic:
Take a slab of pork belly (mine about 6 - 8 x 10 - 12"). Lower it in boiling water with vinegar (about 10 minutes) making sure not to burn the skin.
Pierce the skin with a fork (I use a jaccard tenderizer), many times. Cut the slab in strips of about 2 inches wide. Score the skin in a diamond pattern at about 1/8" distance. Season meat with 5 spice powder, MSG or salt, Garlic powder or fresh ground, onion powder and soy sauce (I also add a little bean paste). Season the skin with only msg or salt. Let sit overnight.
Hold the strips together (standing skin side up but seperated so the meat can brown all over) with skewers. Roast in oven at 350F for about 30 - 45 minutes until the meat is nice and brown. Then put under the broiler until skin crackles. Bon apetit.
John
Tried the recipe out, but couldn't get the skin crispy enough. So I pan friend the meat skin side down, til browner. Plattered oil all over my kitchen & floor when the juice from the meat oozed out onto the oil.
ReplyDeletecheers
Yes, the results are not uniform. I've given up; if I want to eat sieuw yuk, I'll go to the local chinese restaurant. They use a special woodburning oven in which they also roast duckling. Too elaborate for me. I'll keep looking here to see if anyone invents a surefire way. Kind regards,
ReplyDeleteJohn
Regular sea salt is sold at any kedai runcit at 50sen/kg.
ReplyDeleteJust ask for garam laut...or "hoi yeem".