Pork belly with crispy skin is great for a party.

dcarch

My usual method.

- Cut cross-hatch pattern in the skin, don’t cut through the fat layer. This makes it easier to portion the belly when serving, so make cuts as far apart as your desired serving size - I use 1”.

- Mix equal parts salt and sugar, coat all sides of the pork belly

- place belly, skin side up, in the middle of a large sheet of aluminum foil. If needed, join two sheets with a folded connection, so that the join won’t leak.

- wrap foil up sides of belly, then bring foil over top of belly and crimp to close, not too tightly as you’ll be opening the top later

- place on a sheet pan

- preheat oven to 500F (yes, that high)

- place pan and wrapped belly in oven and roast. About 45 min in, open top of foil to fully expose the skin to heat, and reduce heat to 375—ish. You’ll see that the belly is essentially braising in a foil tub of rendered fat and juices. Every 15 min thereafter, check brownness and crispness of skin. Pull when skin looks right. You want it brown and crisp but not hard and black. You can sprinkle on a little more sugar to speed brownness. Don’t worry about the meat, it’s done.

- Remove from oven. Drain off the liquid from the foil tub - punch a hole in the foil then tilt the sheet pan to pour. Move belly out of foil to board and cut into serving pieces, then to platter (or cut in platter). You’ll find that if you try to cut through the skin, the skin resist enough that the meat and fat tend to get squashed, especially when the belly is still hot. Cut along the cross-hatch lines, and it slices easily into neat cubes.

- Separate fat from the liquid, drizzle remaining juices over the belly before serving (or do something else with the tasty juices).

This is an approach I read in David Chang’s

book. Previously I’d always low/slow cooked pork belly. This approach is fast and you can focus on getting the skin right. Belly doesn’t have much connective tissue, it doesn’t need low/slow cooking. The main thing is to render some of the fat, have that rendered fat keeping the meat moist, and expose the skin to extra heat. And not tie up the oven for hours and hours.

John To Houzz I’m just a number :-) Liu

Do you have a smoker? This is my favorite smoker recipe for Pork Belly Burnt Ends.

If you don't have a smoker, here is a recipe for oven cooked pork belly burnt ends I've never tried it but it looks similar to the smoker recipe.

I've roasted pork belly a few times in the oven to use in Pork Fried Rice and Hot and Sour soup. I use a recipe from The Chinese Takeout Cookbook. I can post the recipe if you're interested.

Thank you both! I don't have a smoker, and I usually cook it in the oven then crisp the skin in a cast iron pan, but I would like your recipe as well John. I like the idea of not tying up the oven!