Crispy skin and juicy, tender meat is what makes this dish a family favourite. This was perfectly done in my oven without the need of drying it overnight in the chiller, neither did it need poking. I only used two ingredients – salt and five spice, even with that, the salt that I used was minimal. This is truly the epitome of simple but delicious food.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tsp fine salt for the skin + extra 1/4 tsp (see method below)
• 1 tsp fine salt + 1 tbs five spice powder ( mix together)
• 1 kg pork belly

Method

• Preheat the oven at 100 degree celsius
• Wash the pork belly and use a kitchen towel to pat dry.
• Make horizontal and vertical slits on the skin. (about 1.0-1.5 cm apart) – please refer to picture below
• Rub 2 1/2 tsp salt on the pork rind. (reserve the 1/4 tsp of salt for later use). This amount of salt is used not just for drawing out moisture from the skin but also serves as a marinate.
• Rub the sides and the bottom of the meat with the salt and 5 spice powder mixture.
• Wrap the meat with tin foil leaving the rind exposed (see picture below). Place it on a wire rack.
• Place a tray at the bottom of the wire rack to catch any oil drippings.
• Bake for an hour. As you can see the heat setting is on low. This is for the purpose of drying out the moisture in the skin. Take out the meat, you will observe some slight moisture still left on the skin. Pat it dry once more and sprinkle it with 1/4 tsp of salt. Put it back to the oven and continue baking for 30 minutes. Do note that oven specification varies. You might need to slightly adjust the baking time according to the make and model of your own oven. (+- 10 minutes)
• Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius and bake for 30 minutes
• Remove the foil, Set to grill mode, bake for a further 30 – 40 minutes or until the rind becomes visibly crispy. Rotate the meat every 10-15 minutes if the heat distribution in your oven is uneven. You may scrape off any burnt part of the skin.
• Transfer the meat to a plate lined with kitchen towels. Let it cool down a little bit before chopping, preferably into bite sized pieces.
• Serve it together with your favourite sauce.