What porchetta is to the Italians is, today, lechon belly to Filipinos. It’s the same dish: rolled pork belly roasted until the pork skin is browned and crisp.
This recipe is from December 23, 2015. Back then, the term “lechon belly” was unknown and rolled roasted pork belly was, simply, porchetta (por-ke-ta). I have not changed the way I cook the dish. Season overnight, stuff, roll, steam until tender, then roast in the oven until the skin is crisp as crackling.
But what makes my roasted pork belly different from others? First, the flavor. It’s inspired by the Singaporean icon Hainanese chicken. Scallions, ginger and garlic are spread on the meat before the belly is rolled, tied and cooked.
Second, the cooking method. Steamed and roasted. Not what you had in mind? If you haven’t discovered it yet, there are various ways to cook pork belly to turn the skin golden brown and crisp like crackling.
The Italian porchetta is slow roasted over low heat until the skin is crisp and the meat is wonderfully tender. The Chinese roast the pork directly in the oven too but covers the skin with salt during the first part of cooking. The salt draws out the moisture from the skin and turns solid. It is then removed, in one piece, and the roasting continues until the skin is beautifully crisp.
In the Philippines, traditional crispy pork belly, called lechon kawali, is not rolled. It is simmered in seasoned water until the meat is tender. It is then scooped out, left to cool and allow surface moisture to evaporate. Then, the pork belly is deep fried. That was how I cooked lechon kawali until I discovered that oven roasting and, eventually, air frying, was more fun. No oil spatters to deal with.
I can go on and on about the different ways to cook pork belly with crispy skin. But there is a recipe to share so I’ll let you find out about those other ways on your own at your leisurely pace.
My roasted pork belly is cooked twice. First, it goes into the steamer where it cooks for two hours or so. Why steam? Why not simmer in water or broth? Well, the belly is rolled and tied. In a pot of liquid, the agitation might loosen the twine. Who wants the belly to unroll and all the stuffing going into the liquid, right? So, I steam. The meat is fully cooked by the time it leaves the steamer. What it needs is surface texture. Oven roasting does that. Inside the oven, the skin browns and blisters, and acquires the texture of crackling.
Why precook the pork belly instead of putting it directly in the oven? You can do that if the belly comes from a very young animal. That means a roll of pork belly with thin skin and fine meat fibers.
But you won’t get a large belly from a small, young hog. So, we get the belly of a larger hog which needs a generous amount of time tenderize the meat. It’s a thick roll of meat and if you put it directly in the oven, the skin will brown and turn crisp BEFORE the meat at the innermost portion of the roll is cooked to perfection. If you’re just after the crispy skin and you consider the texture of the meat underneath to be unimportant, go ahead and do it the lazy way.
But I prefer perfection in the whole package. Crisp skin and ultra tender meat together. In fact, I refuse to sacrifice flavor as well. Some cooks rub seasonings on the pork belly just before cooking. I marinate overnight to allow the flavors to penetrate the thick slab of meat all the way.
The seasoned meat is then seasoned a second time. This is the part where you give the dish its distinctive flavor and aroma by spreading scallions, ginger and garlic over the entire surface of the meaty part of the belly.
The belly is rolled and tied. Kitchen twine is the standard but we didn’t have kitchen twine so I used five equal pieces of crocheting thread. It did work. Then, the rolled and tied belly is steamed. And in the steamer with its hot and MOIST environment, the meat gets all the time it needs to turn tender without drying out. Plus, all the flavors from the scallions, garlic and ginger are absorbed by the meat.
Allow the roasted pork belly to rest before going into the oven to give the meat juices time to settle instead of just dripping away. After all, you don’t want to lose the flavors that you have so carefully packed into that parcel, right?
The last part is roasting. You’ll have to turn up the oven temperature for this. Remember that the pork is fully cooked at this point and you’re just turning the skin into crackling. If the oven temperature is too low, the meat will dry out with prolonged cooking. So, roast at a high temperature.
Roasted pork belly with ginger, garlic and scallions
Ingredients
- 1 slab boneless skin-on pork belly (2 kilograms, more or less)
- ¼ cup rock salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons grated ginger with its juices
- ¼ cup finely sliced scallions
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
Instructions
- Rinse the pork and wipe dry.
- Lay the pork belly flat on the work surface with the skin side facing down.
- Spread the salt and pepper over the entire surface of the pork.
- Transfer the pork belly, still skin side down, to a container large enough to hold it without rolling, folding or cutting the meat. Cover tightly and leave in the fridge overnight.
- Take the pork belly out of the fridge and lay flat on the work surface, skin side down.
- Spread the ginger over the meat followed by the scallions and garlic.
- Roll the pork as tightly as you can then tie it up securely with a kitchen twine.
- Steam over simmering water for two hours.
- Remove the pork belly from the steamer and rest on a rack. Cool for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 470F.
- Transfer the steamed pork belly to a baking tray and roast in the oven for an hour or until the skin is browned and crisp.
- Take the pork belly out of the oven and move to a chopping board.
- Cool the meat for about 10 minutes before cutting off the strings and slicing the meat.
