Crispy Roasted Pork Belly- "THỊT HEO QUAY" - Dad’s Recipe

Crispy roasted pork belly is one of the most coveted Vietnamese dishes and it was definitely one of my dad's favorite dishes that he was very proud of. It's not an easy dish to make, it's actually one of the trickiest and most finicky dishes where anything can go wrong. 8 or 9 times out of 10 this dish would turn out to my dad’s liking but he would be so nervous and anxious during the whole cooking time. I still have memories of my dad sitting in his white apron and boxers in front of the oven watching the pork belly with the oven light on like a hawk over it's prey. My dad tried many different techniques from using different oils, different drying methods, brushing on vinegar or citrus oils, different salting methods etc to find the best way to make this dish.

So, what is the key to a successful roast? It's that experience of biting into a SUPER crunchy and bubbly pork belly skin then getting that gush of juicy pork belly fat and and tender meat.

I remember as a kid my dad was always so happy to make this for us because he knew it was one of our ultimate favorites. As kids, my sisters and I would always fight over the best pieces (the pieces with the crunchiest skin). We would take our chopsticks, jab around and peer into spinning dish to find the perfect crunchiest pieces. None of us wanted the chewy or non-crunchy skin pieces and my dad would say things like, "no, not that piece, that's not a good one, eat this one instead", and he would grab a better piece and place it into our bowls. It was the Vietnamese way, my parents would give us the best pieces while they ate the less desirable pieces like the pieces without any pork belly skin or pieces with chewy flat skins. As kids we just expected it, but now as adults it makes me feel really loved reflecting back on those memories.

So enough family memories- There's actually dozens upon dozens of recipes on how to make this but I chose to follow one of my dad’s best techniques, the vinegar and refrigerator drying out method.

CRISPY SKIN TIPS

Seasoning & Marinating: When marinating your pork belly make sure your marinade does not touch the skin. The skin needs to be absolutely dry to achieve a crispy skin.

Prepping skin: The key step to crispy skin is making small punctures/holes into the pork belly skin that breaks through pork skin's surface but not too deep into the fat layer (if you do fat will come up through the pores). I tried 2 different methods: I used paring knife to puncture and score, and a small sewing needle to puncture skin. The best was just using a needle and puncturing like hundreds of holes into the skin, each hole essentially would blister up during the roasting process.

Slicing: As much as you are craving to cut into the pork belly after it comes out of your oven, resist the temptation and wait til it gets to room temperature or else you'll let all the juices out and you'll also get a soggy pork belly skin!

Vinegar: Vinegar makes the skin super dry and crispy! Nom Nom Nom!!!

Annato oil or Annato powder: use a little of this on the skin along with some Five Spice powder and you'll get that perfect orange/warm tinted skin. Optional- without it the skin will be more fleshy/gray, with it, it has more of a golden orange color with a nice flavor to it.

PORK BELLY MEAPORK BELLY MEAT MARINADE

• 3 lbs pork belly (ask butcher for one with a decent amount of meat and nice layer of pork belly skin, I try to find pieces that have at least 1 1/2” of meat)

• 1 tbs Rum Liqour or vodka

• 1 tbs hoison sauce

• 2 tbs of Maggi or soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp Chinese bbq powder (red color)

• 1 tsp honey

• 1/2 tbs black pepper

• 1.5 tsp salt

• 3/4 tsp 5-spice chinese powder
  

  
  SKIN VINEGAR DRYING SOLUTION

• 1/16 tsp annato powder

• 1/2 tsp Chinese powder

• 1/16 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tbs vinegar
  
  
  PREPARATION
  1. Clean pork belly step 1: Mix 2 tbs vinegar, 1.5 tsp salt and 4 cups and cover pork in baking pan for 10 min. Place pork skin facing up in the vinegar solution, if the vinegar solution does not cover the skin, you’ll need to do 10 min in the vinegar solution with meat side submerged, then another 10 min with skin side submerged.

  2. Clean pork belly step 2: Wash and clean pork under water and scrape the skin with sharp knife along the pork belly skin to remove any dirt and dead outer layer/skin from pork belly (Skin should be a clean white throughout entire skin, no dirty patches, this sounds gross but if your pork belly is hairy you’ll need to use a razor to shave off the hairs).

  3. Pat dry and let dry for 10 min

  4. Cut long slices about 2” apart to the bottom of pork belly vertically along the longest part of your slab of meat (meat part only up to the fat, do NOT cut into fat/skin).

  5. If you are using a air fryer you'll need to cut your pork belly into sections that will fit in your deep fryer, my pieces were about 4” x 6 1/2” sections.

  6. Marinate bottom of pork belly (Do not marinate the skin!) and onto the sides of the meat and be careful not to touch the marinade onto the pork belly skin, if you do, just wipe it off with a paper towel. Be sure to get the marinade up into all the cut slits you made as well.

  7. Transfer pork belly (skin side up) onto a foil lined pyrex pan that is almost the same size as the pork belly.

  8. Score the pork belly skin a few times in a hatch mark pattern, just barely slicing into the skin. Then prick pork belly skin with a needle (sharp paring knife or meat pricking tenderizer) and make sure you break into the skin but not too deep into the fat layer.

  9. Brush skin top with vinegar, and lightly salt with skin and rub the salt evenly across the top of the skin (about 1/2 to full tsp of salt). Let dry for 1 to two days uncovered in the fridge (two days total drying time preferred).
  
  
  ROASTING DAY:
  
  1. Mix skin spice vinegar solution: 1/16 tsp five spice powder, 1/16 tsp annato powder for color, 1/16 baking soda, mix with fork, then add 1/2 tbs vinegar. Let it completely fizzle down, then mix well with a fork again.

  2. Brush top skin of pork belly with vinegar mix you just made and let pork belly come to room temperature about for 45 min.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

1. To cook pork, preheat oven to 375.
2. Roast for about 45 min to an hour on middle rack until skin bubbles. After 30 min brush with a little vinegar to the skin. Lower heat down to 300 when skin starts bubble and let it cook for about a total of an hour or so until skin is crispy and internal meat temperature is 145 degrees.
3. If skin hasn't completely bubbled and gotten crispy, then broil it after that one hour mark, set on higher rack (move it to the middle rack (8” from top) and broil (broil on low broil setting if you have that option) until the skin turns to crispy & golden brown) about 5-10 minutes or as necessary depending on your broiler to get an even crisp on the skin (Remove from stove & foil wrapper and put on a wire rack for broiling so marinade can drain).

*If any parts of the skin starts to turn black or burn, place a piece of foil ontop of that section so it doesn’t continue to burn/crisp.

FINISHING
1. Remove from oven and place on wire rack and let cool for 15-20 minutes.
2. Cut along bottom cut lines that you made with skin side down.
3. Then cut each slice into many 1/2” slices by slowing cutting down on the meat and through the skin, and then press firmly down to snap/cut through the skin.

SERVING
1. Serve with fish dipping sauce, Nuoc Mam or Nuoc Mam Gung
2. Plate with fine rice noodles fresh lettuce and herbs

Make sure your pork belly meat is at least 145 for it to be fully cooked through.