Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 Pork belly, 1.5-2.5kg (in the piece)
- Kosher or rock salt
- 1 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder (or a rub of your choice)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Score the flesh side (or underside) of the belly at 3cm intervals and at 1 cm deep.
- Flip the belly over so the skin is facing up and score the skin. The score pattern is up to you. If you don’t have a sharp knife at home, use a new box cutter or Stanley knife. Use caution and ensure your work surface is dry and not slippery. Alternatively, ask your butcher to do it for you.
- Combine the 5-spice powder and sesame oil and rub over the flesh and into the cuts.
- Sprinkle 1 tbsp of salt over the skin or enough so the skin is covered.
- Put the belly on a wire rack and place inside a large oven roasting tray lined with baking paper. Leave in the fridge uncovered overnight or preferably 24 hours.
- The next day fire up your barbecue. If you have a charcoal BBQ like a Weber Kettle, then fill both charcoal baskets with lit coal and ensure all vents are completely open. If you have a gas burner BBQ, then turn the outside burners to high.
- Rub a small amount of oil over the skin and place skin down on the middle of the BBQ, away from the direct heat. Aim for 240c.
- After 15 minutes check the crackling. By now the skin should just about be crackled all over. If not, give it another 5 minutes or so.
- Once the crackle has almost completely formed turn down the heat to low, around the 160c mark. If you have a Weber Kettle shut down the bottom vents to about 75% closed.
- The beauty of pork belly as opposed to pork loin is that you can cook it further without risk of it drying out. The main aim is to have a thick layer of fat between the flesh and skin rendered down to become soft and not chewy.
- Cook until the juices run almost clear. Simply stab with a fork in the thickest section will suffice, or use a meat thermometer to indicate 70c.
- Allow to rest uncovered for 10 minutes before slicing.
- Serve with an Asian coleslaw, or green garden salad.
- Enjoy your crunchy and juicy barbecue pork belly!
The key to achieving great, crunchy crackling is scoring the skin, rubbing in a generous amount of salt and then letting the skin dry out uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours.
The skin should harden to the point where you can almost knock on it with your knuckles. It’s then a matter of cooking the belly with high heat for the first 20 minutes and then slowly cooking it for the remainder.
The time it takes for the skin to crackle will vary due to several factors including the amount of moisture in the skin and preparation, so there is no exact time for the crackling process. 20 minutes is usually enough.
