Crispy Roast Pork Belly

BY: noobcook

That looks so good.

INGREDIENTS:

750 grams pork belly uncut slab
2 tsp sea salt divided
1/2 tbsp five-spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Use kitchen tweezers to pull out stray hair on the pork belly skin, if any. Use a knife to scrap the skin for a few minutes to remove impurities. Rinse pork belly stab and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Holding a small knife in a stabbing action, make short diagonal slits with the tip of the knife on the surface of the skin (but not cutting into the meat) at random. I asked the market butcher to help me with this step when I bought the meat.
3. Combine 1 tsp salt, 5-spice powder and white pepper in a small bowl. Rub the marinade all over the meat portion only. If any marinade gets on the skin, rub it off with a paper towel.
4. Rub the remaining 1 tsp salt on the skin. Place pork belly on a plate, uncovered, skin side up and let it marinade for a few hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator. The purpose is to dry the skin thoroughly and also to allow the marinade to seep into the meat.
5. When ready to roast, first place a ramekin in the center of a semi-deep roasting tray (I am using a bread tin). Fill the tray with some water and place the pork belly on the ramekin. Be careful not to let the skin get wet, if that happens, pat dry with paper towel.
6. Bake the pork belly at preheated oven of 220°C for 30 minutes to get the blistering on the skin started.
7. By this time, the skin will be softened and you can see some blistering on the skin. Using a bamboo skewer, poke as many holes as you can on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
8. Return pork belly and roast at 200°C for another 90 minutes, or until the skin is roasted to crispy perfection. At every 30 minutes interval, top up the water in the tray and poke holes with a bamboo skewer on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
9. Place the cooked pork on a wire rack and allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.
10. Scrap off charred areas from the skin, if any, with a knife. Place the meat on a chopping board, skin side down. Slice a strip of pork, and further cut the strip to smaller, bite-sized pieces.

NB'S Cooking Notes:
1. Tips for getting perfect crispy skin:
- The skin has to be very dry and hence it is recommended to dry it in the refrigerator for a few hours, preferably overnight.
- The slits and holes made on the skin (not so deep that it cut into the meat) helps it to crackle, so make as many as you can but do not cut into the meat.
- Roast the pork on a higher rack closer to the heating coil.

2. The water helps the meat to be tender and moist, while allowing the oil to drip directly onto it for easy cleaning.

3. Before the meat has been cooked, the skin is very tough and it is difficult to make cuts on it. Some recipes suggest blanching the meat first but I find that after blanching, the meat will not absorb the marinade well. Hence I use my method of first making slits on the raw skin with the tip of the knife by holding the knife in a stabbing action (I saw my butcher doing so). After the meat has been roasted for 30 minutes, the skin will be soft and it will now be very easy to poke holes on the skin using bamboo skewers.

Steamed Egg Tofu with Minced Meat

ADAPTION RECIPE FROM NOOBCOOK and another one I don't know where I found it.

I combine two recipes into one. Mostly because I didn't have the ingredients and made due of what I have and what I want in it.

The meat mixture I used ground turkey which is what I had in hand. I also added dried black fungus, dried shiitake mushroom, mince carrot maybe, salt, chicken granule bouillon, maybe soy sauce, olive oil, chinese cooking wine, cornflour, and white pepper powder.

For the tofu I only had my favorite one I always buy. So I steamed as it instructed and follow pouring the excess liquid in bowl and heated some oil to pour over it and add some soy sauce.

Self Note:
It seem like the final liquid was enough but it wasn't I should have added more sauce and oil. The tofu tasted great and made me think I should cook more steam tofu dishes drizzled with hot oil and soy sauce.

2 Steamed Tofu with Pork Mince recipes I combine these two:


Ingredients:
75 gm pork mince
15 gm Tianjin preserved vegetable
3 slices silken tofu
a dash vegetable oil, heated in a small saucepan

Marinade Meat:
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
a pinch white pepper

Method:
1. Rinse preserved vegetable and squeeze out excess water. Mix pork mince with marinade and preserved vegetable well. Divide pork into three equal parts and make a small disc with clean hands.
2. Place tofu slices on a plate. Carefully put pork onto tofu. Steam in a wok over high heat for 20 minutes, or until pork is cooked through, colour changed. Discard excess water in the plate if necessary, sprinkle spring onion for garnish. Drizzle with hot oil and soy sauce. Serve hot.

Ingredients:

- 1 tube silken egg tofu 蛋豆腐 (150g)

- 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

- 15 wolfberries, soaked in water till puffy (about 20 minutes)

- 1/2 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly or cut to wispy strips 

(A) Meat and marinade:

- 50g minced pork (can substitute with chicken) and shrimp (optional)

- 1/2 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly

- a few thin carrot slices (peeled using a vegetable peeler, stacked together and finely chopped)

- 1 tsp light soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tsp cornflour

- dash of white pepper powder

- 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine 

Directions:

1. Cut egg tofu in half along the “dotted line” (if any), remove packaging and cut to thin and even slices (see detailed step by step photos). Arrange tofu pieces on a steaming plate (with a bit of depth).

2. Mix ingredients in (A) evenly in a small bowl and allow to sit for at least a few minutes.

3. Mould a small amount of the marinaded meat mixture (about 1 tsp or less) into a ball and place on top of tofu slices. Top each meat ball with a wolfberry. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp light soy over the tofu slices.

4. Steam over high heat for about 5 minutes (starting from the time the water in steamer is boiling), or until the meat is cooked (see cooking note 1 below). Before serving, use a spoon to drizzle the soy liquid collected in the plate over the tofu slices. Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Fish Cake Omelette Recipe

RECIPE FROM NOOB COOK

This looks good and easy to make. Now I only need fish cake...

SERVES: 2-3PREP: 6 minsCOOK: 6 mins
This is a super quick and easy recipe for fish cake omelette you can cook with just a few ingredients and under 15 minutes. Goes well with porridge.

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs beaten
a dash of white pepper powder
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp cooking oil
2-3 fish cakes (鱼饼) (about 50g each), diced
1 tbsp chopped spring onions

INSTRUCTIONS
Combine eggs, white pepper and light soy sauce in a small bowl; mix well.
Heat oil in wok and stir fry diced fish cakes for about a minute.
Pour egg mixture over the fish cakes. Gently tilt the wok to ensure the fish cake dices are well coated in the egg. Cook a few minutes on one side until dry and nicely browned, then flip to the other side and do the same. Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Steamed Egg with Minced Pork From NOOB COOK

RECIPE FROM NOOB COOK

Ingredients
(Serves 2-4)

- 150g minced pork
- 1/2 tsp vegetable/olive oil
- 1 carrot (but you’ll be only using some of it)

A) For the egg custard mixture
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup water or stock
- 1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp light soy sauce (for seasoning the egg mixture, exclude or use less soy sauce if using stock)

B) Marinade for the minced pork
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
- a bit of Chinese white pepper
- 1/2 stalk spring onions, finely chopped (use the green upper part)

Directions

1) Using a vegetable peeler, shave some carrot slices, then stack the slices vertically, cut them to thin strips and then chop to smaller pieces to get finely chopped carrots.

2) Preparing the egg custard mixture

i) Break the eggs into the bowl. To minimize bubbles, do not beat the eggs but gently stir the eggs with a pair of chopsticks using a cutting action.
ii) Add the rest of the ingredients from (A) to the eggs mixture. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.

3) Preparing the minced pork

i) Combine marinade (B) with minced pork and mix well. Leave for at least 10 minutes.
ii) Heat wok with a bit of oil, then stir fry the minced pork till they are no longer pink, breaking them to smaller bits using your spatula. Do not overcook.
iii) Arrange the stir-fried minced pork in a thin layer on a shallow dish. Then pour the stained egg mixture over gently. Top with some chopped carrots prepared in step 1. If you see any bubbles, “flatten” the surface gently with the back of a spoon.

4) Cover the dish with transparent food wrap or aluminum foil.

5) Steam the egg custard over high heat for about 15 mins. To test if the egg mixture is cooked, insert a bamboo stick into the mixture: if a little clear liquid comes out, it is cooked. Serve with warm rice.