Crisp Chinese pork

Crisp Chinese pork

Belly is the cheapest pork roasting joint and, as it’s rich, a little goes a long way, making it perfect for Sundays and dinner parties

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Plus at least 2 hours salting

Method

  1. Rub the pork with the five-spice and 2 tsp sea salt then leave, uncovered, in the fridge for at least 2 hrs, but preferably overnight. When ready to cook, heat oven to its maximum setting. Lay the pork on a rack over a roasting tin, making sure the skin is exposed. Roast for 10 mins before turning down the heat to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4, then leave to cook for a further 1½ hrs. Have a look at the pork - if the skin isn't crisp, turn up the heat to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7, then cook for another 30 mins until crisp. Leave to rest on a board for at least 10 mins.
  2. To make the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients together with 2 tbsp water. Cut the pork into small pieces, then serve with the sauce, plus boiled rice and steamed greens, if you like.
Try

Pork belly

When whole, the belly has a thick and a thin end, with the ribs attached to the thick end. A whole pork belly will weigh about 3kg but will feed about 8-10 people, so half a belly is perfect for four, with leftovers. Pork belly can either be tied into a joint and roasted, or roasted as a flat piece, as in my recipe, right. It is also delicious slow-cooked in liquid - this is best done skinned, but you won't get the wonderful crackling that comes from roasting.

Barney says...

I like to buy organic and farm-assured meat, but it's not the cheapest option. So, learn from all good butchers and choose the less popular cuts they take home for themselves. They taste delicious and you'll get so much more for your money

Per serving

696 kcalories, protein 59g, carbohydrate 3g, fat 50 g, saturated fat 19g, fibre 0g, sugar 2g, salt 5.83 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, March 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Sarah

    01 March 2008

    Sarah rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    The crackling really crackled up beautifully, my piece of belly was little too much on the fatty side so choose your belly wisely!

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  • Binder photo Sharon

    06 March 2008

    Sharon commented on this recipe

    I cooked this as amid week treat. The crackling crackled beautifully. I stuck to the timings and the recipe. Will definitely cook again. Went down well with my family and was surprisingly not fatty! was very moist and crackly!

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  • Binder photo Foodie

    19 March 2008

    Foodie commented on this recipe

    All the family agreed that this was the best new recipe we had tried for a while.

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  • Binder photo Foodie

    19 March 2008

    Foodie rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sylvia

    27 March 2008

    Sylvia commented on this recipe

    This is beautiful - the sauce is easy and delicious - something so simple, yet so tasty - have cooked this twice now and will definitely do again

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  • Binder photo Ogremindes

    06 April 2008

    Ogremindes rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I adapted this recipe for three boneless pork spare ribs I had lying around (half the five-spice and salt, 30min at 160 fan, 15 at 220), and it worked great.

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  • Binder photo AlisonW

    24 April 2008

    AlisonW rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Got my pork belly off of the local farmers market, it was a really lovely dish, had to clean the oven afterwards!

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  • Binder photo Laura

    08 June 2008

    Laura rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    this is gorgeous, there were 2 slight problems though, firstly it was quite salty and secondly the amount of pork was far too much as its so rich you can only eat a small amount. I would definitely do it again but with a smaller piece of meat and with less salt

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  • Binder photo lou

    08 September 2008

    lou rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I served this dish alongside the chilli prawn noodles and sticky chinese wings recently at a dinner party and it went down a storm. Fantastic!!

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  • Binder photo chocolatemonkeybear

    29 December 2008

    chocolatemonkeybear rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I cooked this for friends using strips of pork belly and it worked a treat.

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  • Binder photo bakegirl

    01 February 2009

    bakegirl rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I followed these instructions for cooking but used 400g of belly pork strips as I was only cooking for two. I love crispy belly pork but have never before made it myself as the thick layer of fat lead me to imagine it to be something which would envolve a lot of difficult washing up and strong cooking smells. I am lazy, and so this made me fear cooking it. However, it seems my fears were all totaly un nessesary; even the lazy can enjoy cooking this dish. The pork cooked just as the recipe states, needing no extra attention and leaving suprisingly little fat in the pan after cooking. The pork itself was left beautifully tender with the perfect golden crispy crusting of crackled skin. So pleased am i with this recipe that I think it may become a household regular.

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  • Binder photo Nicola

    26 February 2009

    Nicola rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    absolutely fantastic. everyone loved this, and my lot are really hard to please. this will be a regular event, and so easy to cook too. I admit to being dubious at the reviews, i imagined the meat on its own would be under seasoned, but i was so wrong. The pork on its own has great flavour and could be served on its own, but the dipping sauce really does add to it. nice one Barney:0)

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  • Binder photo sarilu75

    18 March 2009

    sarilu75 commented on this recipe

    I cooked this with my 7 year old daughter, who rubbed the spice mix into the pork belly, and mixed the dipping sauce. She says " it was lovely and crispy, and a liitle bit chewy. It tasted spicy and nice." and that is high praise from a girl who never rarely eats meat unless served with copious amounts of gravy. It was indeed a fine recipe. I served it with sesame rice and stir fried pak choi. the pork was easy to prepare, easy to cook, and there was lots left over for " pork fried rice " the next day!

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  • Binder photo Steff85

    01 August 2009

    Steff85 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    amazing. made this with the curly kale nd boiled rice - athentic and delicious. really good value meal too. Made with belly pork strips as there was only two of us and it turned out good.

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  • Binder photo mike

    22 October 2009

    mike rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    good stuff, easy to prepare.. and nice cold too not sure I'll be cooking it again though, had a bit of a problem with the fat burning in the tray below the meat..

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  • Binder photo MY

    22 December 2009

    MY rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    It's excellent and easy treat.

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  • Binder photo Corrina

    19 February 2010

    Corrina rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Jade

    16 May 2010

    Jade rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Lindy1

    04 October 2010

    Lindy1 commented on this recipe

    may I suggest this is chinese style roast , traditionally served with rice with just a small portion of the meat. It is not really suitable to served as a british style roast portion , for the above reasons as per comments: it is cery rich and quite fatty. Although the fat can be left for the birds!

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  • Binder photo Lindy1

    04 October 2010

    Lindy1 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    OOps can't seem to edit grammatical /spell errors - sorry and forgot to rate. So just have to re-write! "May I suggest this is chinese style roast , traditionally served with rice with just a small portion of the meat. It is not really suitable to be served as a british style roast portion , for the above reasons as per comments: it is very rich and quite fatty. Although the fat can be left for the birds!"

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Plus at least 2 hours salting

Best-ever crackling

Ingredients

  • 1.3kg piece boned pork belly , skin on and scored, ask the butcher for the thin end
  • 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE

  • 4 tbsp soy sauce (we used Kikkoman)
  • small knob fresh root ginger , grated
  • 1 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
  • 1 spring onion , finely chopped
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Per serving

696 kcalories, protein 59g, carbohydrate 3g, fat 50 g, saturated fat 19g, fibre 0g, sugar 2g, salt 5.83 g

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