18 Must-Try Chinese Pork Belly Recipes | The Woks of Life (2024)

FAQs

Is Chinese pork belly healthy? ›

Because pork belly consists mostly of fat, this serving size packs up to 585 calories, 60 grams of total fat, and 22 grams of saturated fat ( 1 ). However, it's also an excellent source of B vitamins, as well as a source of other important nutrients such as vitamin E, zinc, iron, and copper ( 1 ).

Hong shao rou is a Chinese braised pork belly dish that is cooked in a braising liquid made with soy sauce, sugar, and various aromatics and spices.

It is a fact of life that dry skin crisps better than moist skin. Scotese's trick to crispy pork belly is to rub equal parts baking soda and salt into the skin—the combo of baking soda and salt will draw out moisture and set you up for success.

However, washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb or veal before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw meat and poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils and surfaces.

Nutritional Benefits

Both can be part of a healthy diet, as long as you know what you're getting and can consume them in moderation. When comparing the nutritional content of a 100-gram portion of pork belly and bacon, pork belly contains 53 grams of fat, whereas bacon has 37 grams of fat.

Contrary to common belief, pork belly does contain omega-3 fatty acids, albeit in smaller quantities than fish or nuts. These healthy fats are well-known for their anti-inflammatory properties and are beneficial for heart health, brain function, and overall well-being.

Whether you remove the skin or not is a personal choice and there is a ton of debate about when and why to remove the skin. We leave the skin on most of the time, like when we are making bacon, and then remove it after the smoking process is finished. The skin can get very tough when cooking pork belly.

This process helps the fat run out and skin to crisp. Transfer to a preheated oven. Check your recipe for times and temperatures. Pork belly needs a combination of slow, gentle heat to tenderise the meat, plus a shorter blast at a higher heat to crisp up the skin.

boiling water trick

This helps to prep the skin to crackle as its now "pre-cooked" so to speak. Make sure to pat dry with paper towel to further dry afterwards.

Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty cut of pork from the belly of a pig.

Why do people boil pork belly? ›

This process softens the pork, infuses it with flavor, and speeds up the overall cooking time. Some prefer to boil their belly in plain water. But if you want your ulam to burst with savory goodness, cook it in seasoned stock.

If your pork belly is tough after braising, it meant that either the pork belly needs to be braised longer or it was cooked at too high heat. Try to braise the pork belly at a medium simmer. Also, you can try braising the pork belly in beer. It'll tenderize the pork belly and also get rid of porky flavor.

The skin wasn't dry enough. Make sure to pat the pork completely dry before rubbing in the salt and oil as excess moisture will stop it from crisping up. It's important to score the skin if you want it really crisp. You'll need a sharp knife for this, or ask your butcher to do it for you.

There are times when pork needs to be boiled before frying. Boiling makes it tender and gives is a more crisp texture when fried later on. This is true to dishes such as lechon kawali and crispy pata. Both these crispy pork dishes needed to be boiled first and then deep fried to attain that nice texture.

By blanching the pork belly for 30 minutes before pan frying and pan-frying the pork belly without cooking oil, we can get rid of extra oil from the meat and make the meat extra tender.

Parboiling removes the distinctive smell of daikon and helps it absorb flavor; parboiling pork not only eliminates its gamy smell, but extracts aku and excess fat as well.