Pork belly is every meat lover’s dream dish because the meat melts in the mouth and its crispy skin just balances it out to give it the needed texture. No one wants burnt skin on their pork belly; it leaves a bitter aftertaste.
There is a small trick making the crispiest skin without burning it or having to punch holes in it. The skin amazingly crisps up and remains a golden brown rather than dark or even burnt.
The meal prep a day before also adds to how well the pork belly will turn out. A well-spiced and marinated pork belly needs close to 12 hours to ooze all the desired flavor the meat should have.
Try this recipe and let us know how you liked it.
Ingredients
2 lb pork belly
1 cup table salt
For the marinade
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp brown sugar you can replace with sugar substitute for low carb or keto
2 cloves garlic minced
You can add your desired spices to make it as flavorful as you want it.
Instructions
Using a paper towel, pat skin of pork belly until it is completely dry. Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl and then pour into a rectangular pan that is big enough to hold the pork belly.
Place pork belly into the pan, making sure only the meat touches the marinade, and the skin stays completely dry. If the marinade level is too high you can pour some of it out. Place in fridge for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Completely line a roasting pan with foil (this will make clean-up much easier). Pour 1 inch of water into bottom of pan.
Place wire rack on top of roasting pan to hold the pork belly. Place the pork belly on the wire rack. The pork belly will cook above the water, with the pork drippings dripping down below into the water.
Make sure the pork belly is level (if one part is lower/shorter the skin will not cook evenly. if you must, use something oven-safe to prop up a shorter part to keep it completely level). Spread 1 cup of salt evenly across the pork belly skin.
Place into top half of oven. Bake for about 40 minutes until meat looks cooked.
Remove pork belly and increase oven temperature to 465°F. The salt that was poured over pork belly should have formed a crust.
Remove salt crust from pork belly.
Wipe off any excess salt from the pork belly skin. Once oven has reached desired temperature, place pork belly back into oven.
Bake for another 30 minutes until skin is completely bubbly and crisp. Let pork belly cool a few minutes before cutting and serving.
NUTRITION
serving: 0.125of recipe, calories: 587kcal, protein: 10g, fat: 60g, saturated fat: 21g, cholesterol: 81mg, sodium: 36mg, potassium: 209mg, vitamin a: 10iu, vitamin c: 0.3mg, calcium: 6mg, iron: 0.6mg
