Roast Pork (Siew-Yoke)

Ingredients A:
1.5kg pork belly

Ingredients B:
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp salt

Ingredient C:
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 cubes of red fermented beancurd / tau chu or nam yee (well mashed)
1/2 tsp sugar

Methods:

1. Clean the pork belly and blanch it over a pot of hot boiling water for about a minute.
2. Remove the pork belly and pat dry. Use a knife to score the skin about 2 cm deep and 2 cm wide. Then randomly poke the skin and meat with a fork.
3. Rub  combined ingredient (C) thoroughly into the meat side of the pork.
4. Place pork belly meat side down in a rectangular baking tray.
5. Brush the vinegar onto the skin.
6. Brush the salt onto the skin.
7. Then, keep the marinated pork belly uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. The air in the fridge will dry out the pork skin.
8. Bring it to room temperature before roasting.
9. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Have both the upper and lower heating elements as well as the fan in the oven on.
10. Place pork belly with the meat side up on a rack in the middle of the oven. Have a pan below to catch the dripping fat during roasting. I placed a piece of aluminium foil in my pan for easy cleaning later.
11. Bake marinated pork at 200ºC for 45-50 minutes. change the oven setting to just the upper heating element, then turn the skin facing up, bake for another 45 minutes. Bake until the skin crackling puffy and crispy.
12. Remove crackling pork from oven and let it cool down first before cutting into small pieces. Serve as appetizer or main dish. Make sure to scrap off the burnt part before you cut.