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

FAQs

Why do Chinese boil pork belly? ›

The idea is that by boiling the fatty pork belly, it not only renders out some of the fat, it also tenderizes the meat. Because the boiling time is so short it's debatable how tender it makes the meat, but what it does do is prime the fat for high-heat cooking.

Pork belly is an excellent source of protein, essential for many bodily functions. It aids in muscle growth, repair, and maintenance, supports the immune system, and helps regulate hormones. Including pork belly in a balanced diet can contribute towards meeting your daily protein requirements.

If it's ground pork, it might be as the result of using/adding minced ginger and the resulting interaction with pork tends to make it a slightly pink hue. If it's traditional char siu(BBQ Chinese roasted pork), it's the combination of seasonings and spices (hoisin sauce, honey, five spice powder and red food dye).

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.

White Vinegar helps dry out the skin – but it has a secondary purpose of removing the odour! If you are prepared, place the Pork in the Fridge UNCOVERED overnight – the skin will dry out. When you pre-heat your oven, remove the pork from the fridge and let it return to room temperature.

This is sisig, the greatest pork hash — arguably greatest pork dish — on earth.

Pork dominates China's meat market. In 2022, it took up more than 50 percent of the domestic meat consumption. China is by far the world's largest pork producer, consumer, and importer.

The red hue on the pork comes from the sticky, crave-able barbecue sauce in which it's marinaded before roasting. Often, this deep crimson hue comes from a combination of Hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, and fermented red bean curd (aka fermented tofu, bean cheese, or tofu cheese).

It's simply topped on the thinly sliced pork belly meat as a dressing. Raw garlic is a popular companion to rich meat dishes in Chinese cuisine. As the folk saying goes, eating meat without garlic will lose half the flavor.

Pork belly is particularly popular in Filipino, Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Polish and Thai cuisine.

Why is pork belly so expensive? ›

It goes back to the elementary lessons of supply and demand. According to market analysis, pork bellies' supply is tight. The latest Cold Storage report by the USDA shows stocks of frozen bellies at a record low. Basically, the bacon stash is depleted, and it is time to restock the freezers.

Soy sauce (usually a mix of light and dark soy sauce), fermented bean paste, red fermented tofu or rock sugar is commonly used to both flavor and impart a reddish brown hue to the items being cooked. Food coloring is sometimes added for a more intense red coloration.

If fresh pork has reached 145°F (62.8 °C) throughout, even though it may still be pink in the center, it should be safe. The pink color can be due to the cooking method or added ingredients.

That color doesn't indicate anything nefarious—at 145°F, your pork is at a “medium rare” temperature.

Now the pork chunks get quickly boiled in water. This is a traditional Chinese technique to clean the pork and remove some of the gamey scent. Nowadays, pork production is so consistent and the meat so mild, it's not really a necessary step, but I've included it if you'd like to try it.

They often boil meat before cooking it

First, the boiling helps remove all the dirt and excess blood from the meat. Second, it softens some kinds of meat, like for example, pork.