Hairy Bikers Chinese Pork Belly

The potatoes underneath are half the reason to make Hairy Bikers Chinese pork belly, since they cook in the soy and mirin. The recipe is in Everyday Winners, so 1.5kg of belly feeds four at about 1,125 calories, with 2 hours 45 minutes in the oven.

Si and Dave describe it in Everyday Winners as “a Sunday roast with an Asian twist”, which is exactly right. The five-spice goes on the flesh only, never the skin, so the crackling stays clean and the spice sits underneath it.

Salt goes on the skin and into the score lines, then the pork sits in the fridge for at least two hours. Pat it dry a second time when it comes out, so the skin has nothing left to steam and blisters instead.

Hairy Bikers Chinese Pork Belly Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Roasting Cuisine:British Chinese Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:2 hours 15 minutesCook time:2 hours 45 minutesRest time: 25 minutesTotal time:5 hours 25 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:1125 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

A whole bulb of garlic and three star anise go into the tin with the potatoes, then the joint sits on top through a hot start and a long slow finish. The meat rests while the tray goes back in on its own, which is what turns the softened potatoes crisp. Served in thick slices with a thin gravy, plus at least two hours in the fridge beforehand.

Ingredients

For the Pork:

• 1 piece of boned belly pork, about 1.5kg, scored
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• Sea salt and black pepper

For the Tray:

• 600g waxy potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic bulb, broken into cloves
• 3 star anise
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 50ml mirin
• 100ml water

Instructions

1. Salt the skin: Pat the pork dry, then rub salt onto the skin and down into the score lines. Mix more salt and pepper with the five-spice and rub that over the flesh only, keeping it off the skin.
2. Chill it: Leave the meat in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you can. Take it out, pat it dry again and let it come up to room temperature.
3. Build the tray: Heat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7, then spread the potatoes over the base of a roasting tin. Scatter over the onion, garlic cloves and star anise and season with salt.
4. Add the liquid: Mix the soy sauce and mirin with 100ml water, pour it over the potatoes, then sit the pork on top.
5. Start it hot: Roast for 20 minutes, so the skin gets its first blast of heat.
6. Drop and roast: Turn the oven down to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 and roast for a further 2 hours, until the pork is tender and the skin is very crisp and slightly blistered. Give it another 20 to 30 minutes if it is not quite there.
7. Rest and make the gravy: Lift the pork out and leave it to rest, then strain off the liquid to serve as a thin gravy. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and whisk it in, or leave the cloves whole to serve as they are.
8. Crisp the potatoes: Put the tin back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, so the potatoes crisp up now that nothing is covering them. Serve the pork thickly sliced with the gravy and the potatoes, and some Chinese greens alongside if you want them.

FAQs

How long can the pork sit in the fridge before roasting?

Two hours is the minimum the recipe gives, and overnight is what Si and Dave prefer. The difference is not subtle, because the skin needs real time with the salt on it before it will blister properly.

If you are short on time, two hours in the fridge followed by a proper second pat down with kitchen paper gets you most of the way. What you cannot do is skip it altogether and expect crackling, since the skin goes into a 220°C oven still damp and steams instead.

What do I do with the whole garlic bulb and the star anise?

The garlic is your choice. Squeeze the soft flesh out of the skins and whisk it into the strained liquid for a thicker, sweeter gravy, or leave the cloves whole in the tin and let people squeeze their own onto the pork.

The star anise stays whole and gets fished out before serving, since three of them in one tin is plenty of aniseed and nobody wants to bite into one. The chinese chicken curry uses two the same way, dropped in whole and lifted out at the end rather than ground up.

Why does the roasting tin go back in the oven without the pork?

Because the potatoes have spent two hours under a joint of pork, soaking up liquid and getting no direct heat at all. They come out soft and full of flavour but pale, so they need their own turn in the oven with nothing on top of them.

Twenty to twenty five minutes is enough, and it happens while the pork is resting anyway, so it costs you nothing. This is the step people skip, and it is the difference between good potatoes and the ones the recipe promises.

What can I use instead of mirin?

Dry sherry with a pinch of sugar is the closest, since mirin is sweet rice wine and a plain dry wine leaves the tray tasting flat. Shaoxing rice wine works too if you have it.

It is worth buying a bottle though, because it turns up constantly in these books. The sweet and sour pork uses it in the marinade, and the chicken stir fry uses it twice, once on the chicken and again in the sauce.

How does this compare with the apples and sage pork belly?

Same cut, completely different job. The pork belly in Meat Feasts opens at 240°C for a fast blast, runs 2 hours 50 in total, and puts cider gravy and apples underneath.

This one starts lower at 220°C, runs for well over two hours and puts potatoes under the meat instead of apples, so you get the whole dinner out of one tin. It also needs the fridge time, which the other does not, so it is the better choice when you can plan a day ahead.