Crispy Pork Belly with Dry Rub
Here’s another recipe for a crispy pork belly, also known as Siew Yoke, with less salt. This recipe uses a dry rub to marinate the pork, which means less mess. It also enables freezing the pork before deep-frying; for when we want to make it ahead of time.
Ingredients
The main ingredient is the pork belly. As we will be double frying with an option to freeze beforehand, this recipe does not demand the freshest cuts.
Next is the vinegar. It’s used to draw water from the skin by reverse osmosis. As I prefer a less salty Siew Yoke, vinegar is the main way I use to remove moisture hidden in the skin.
Then, we have the dry rubs: five-spice powder, garlic powder and pepper to add flavour to the meat. The onion oil is also used for added flavour and as a binding agent for the powdered rubs to stick.
Lastly, oil for deep-frying. I tend to use a slightly cheaper unscented vegetable oil for this purpose. I also don’t reuse the oil more than once – especially if the oil is “tainted” with seasonings after the first fry.
Steps
Here’s a brief breakdown of how I make this Crispy Pork Belly:
- Pre-boil pork belly in a pan.
- Whisk all the dry seasonings to make the dry rub.
- Make incisions in the cooked pork belly.
- Wipe away all the excess moisture.
- Salt the pork belly.
- Pour and rub onion oil over pork belly.
- Season the pork belly evenly with the dry rub.
- Soak the skin in vinegar.
- Dab excess moisture/ oil from pork belly & air fry.
- Deep-fry pork belly.
- Rest pork belly on the cooling rack.
- Cut the crispy pork belly into bite-sized pieces.
Tips
- Cut the pork belly skin length-wise to get your desired width before air-frying. This makes it easier to get bite-sized pieces later.
- The more moisture removed from the skin, the more it will crackle, and the crispier it becomes.
- Salt and vinegar achieve a similar result, however, vinegar imparts little to none of its flavour to the pork – so it’s my preferred choice as the dehydrating agent.
- Using dry rubs enables the usage of the air-fryer. Using sauces tends to make a mess in the air fryer.
- Adding a steamer stand adds space between the pork skin and pan. This helps the skin expand and crackle nicely.
- Serve with white rice, and dip in Sour Spicy Chicken Chilli Sauce.
Storage Instructions
Once deep-fried, it’s best to consume the Crispy Pork Belly in one sitting. Exposing it to the air or chill eventually softens the skin and deflates the crunch.
For this reason, I highly recommend separating the pork belly into consumable batches before freezing so we can avoid disappointing, deflated bites.
Let’s Eat!
So crunchy, so delicious. The crunch is perfect, the meat is well-marinated with the dry rubs and the fatty parts are juicy and very tender.
This goes so well with rice and a light-gravied dish that’s slightly spicy and sour.
I had a lot of fun making this Crispy Pork Belly dish – hope you do as well. I particularly liked that it can be frozen beforehand; so it can be easily deep-fried when needed.
Hope you enjoyed this recipe. Happy cooking! 😄
Crispy Pork Belly
Equipment
- Stainless Steel Pan
- Casserole
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Chopping Board
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1.4 kg pork belly, with skin
- 500 ml vinegar, to soak pork skin
Marinade Rub
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp onion oil
- 1 tbsp five-spice powder
- 3/4 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- cooking oil, for deep-frying
Instructions
Preparation
- Cut pork belly into manageable sizes, but not bite-sized.
Pre-Cooking
- In a stainless steel pan over medium-high heat, add pork belly with skin facing down. Add enough water to submerge completely. Cover the pan and simmer for 17 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the five-spice powder, pepper and garlic powder until well-combined. Set aside with the salt.
- After 17 minutes, turn the pork. Cook for another 12 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, flip it again. Let it simmer for 1 minute. Switch off the heat. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once cool enough to handle, carefully make small incisions all over the pork skin with a knife. A skin pricker works too. Wipe the excess moisture with a paper towel.
- Cut the pork skin to your desired width, stopping just before the meat layer.
- Sprinkle salt and marinate the pork belly all over.
- Set the pork belly on its skin. Pour and rub 1/4 of the onion oil evenly over the pork meat. Repeat with the dry marinade.
- Wipe the moisture from the pork skin. Set the pork with skin down in a large glass or ceramic casserole pan. Pour vinegar until the skin layer is fully submerged. Soak for 20 minutes.
- Air fry pork belly for 25 minutes at 160C/ 320F. Set aside to cool.
- If freezing, wrap carefully with cling wrap and store in an airtight container for 6-8 weeks. Otherwise, add oil for deep frying to a pan over medium-high heat.
Deep-Frying
- When it's time to fry, remove the cling wrap and lightly dab any excess moisture away (if applicable).
- Test the oil with a pair of chopsticks. When bubbles form at the tip, it's ready. Add a shallow steamer stand and the pork belly, skin side down. Let it fry for 8 minutes. Flip the pork and cook for 1 minute. Flip it once more and let it brown for 1 minute.
- Transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat for the second batch (if any). Cook for 6 minutes on one side. Flip and cook for 1 minute on both sides.
Serving
- Cut pork belly into bite-sized pieces, following the pre-made cut.
- Serve immediately with Sour Spicy Chicken Chilli Sauce and some cut cilantro leaves.
Notes
Tips
- Cut the pork belly skin length-wise to get your desired width before air-frying. This makes it easier to get bite-sized pieces later.
- The more moisture removed from the skin, the more it will crackle, and the crispier it becomes.
- Salt and vinegar achieve a similar result, however, vinegar imparts little to none of its flavour to the pork – so it’s my preferred choice as the dehydrating agent.
- Using dry rubs enables the usage of the air-fryer. Using sauces tends to make a mess in the air fryer.
- Adding a steamer stand adds space between the pork skin and pan. This helps the skin expand and crackle nicely.
- Serve with white rice, and dip in Sour Spicy Chicken Chilli Sauce.