Tag: heo quay

Heo Quay — Crispy Roasted Pig Belly

Writ­ten Jan­u­ary 23, 2023, updat­ed Jan 31, 2025

First attempt
Beau­ti­ful crispy skin, but over­cooked

2nd attempt
Deli­cious but no crispy skin 🙁

What

Crispy-skinned roast­ed pork bel­ly

Ingredients

2–3lb slab  Pork Bel­ly

1 Tbsp  Gar­lic, minced or crushed

2 Tbsp  Shaox­ing Wine

½ Tbsp  Hoisin Sauce

½ Tbsp  Oys­ter Sauce

¼ tsp  Salt

¼ tsp  Sug­ar

¼ tsp  Pep­per

pinch — ⅛ tsp  5‑Spice Pow­der

Kosher Salt/Vinegar

Time

20 minute Prep, 4 hours – Overnight Mar­i­nate, 1–2 hour Cook

Prep

  • Turn pork bel­ly skin side down onto some paper tow­els
  • Cut ver­ti­cal lines into the meat, mak­ing sure NOT to cut into the fat for the mari­nade
  • In a sep­a­rate bowl, mix Soy Sauce (1 Tbsp), Gar­lic (3 cloves, crushed or minced), Salt, Sug­ar, Pep­per (¼ tsp each), 5‑Spice Pow­der (pinch — ⅛ tsp), Hoisin Sauce (½ Tbsp), Oys­ter Sauce (½ Tbsp), and Shaox­ing Wine (2 Tbsp)

Option­al: Before prepar­ing meat, mix the Gar­lic (3 cloves, crushed) with But­ter (2–3 Tbsp, soft­ened or melt­ed). If melt­ed, then allow to solid­i­fy overnight in refrig­er­a­tor, if soft­ened, then mix togeth­er. This helps the mix­ture stick to the meat

  • Taste and alter if nec­es­sary (it should be more saucy than liq­uidy)
  • Rub the Spice Mix­ture into the meat, mak­ing sure NOT to get any on the skin
  • Place it meat side down into a bak­ing dish or plate

Option­al: Cre­ate a dish the size of your Pork slab out of Foil, fold­ing up the sides to hold in the sauce close to the meat. Place a piece of Plas­tic Wrap inside of that, then place the meat and any sauces meat-side-down into it

  • Dry the skin with a tow­el (needs to be dry)

3 Choic­es:

Rub with a sprin­kle of salt

Light­ly brush on a salt/vinegar mix

Just dry it

  • Place UNCOVERED in the refrig­er­a­tor 4 hours or overnight (prefer­able). The goal here is to get the skin super dry

Cooking Day

  • Pre­heat oven to 400F degrees Roast set­ting
  • Dry the skin
  • Line a bak­ing sheet with foil
  • Place meat skin-side-down on the foil
  • Roast for 40ish min­utes until inter­nal tem­per­a­ture exceeds 160F (See NOTES)
  • Take it out, flip it over so skin is up

Option­al: Dry it and then either prick tiny holes in the skin or score it — either way be care­ful NOT to cut past the skin and into the fat. Oth­er­wise it will NOT get bub­bly and crispy

  • Brush on a thin lay­er of vinegar/salt com­bo
  • Broil on High for 3–5 min­utes until desired temperature/doneness (WARNING: This process pro­duces a LOT of smoke. Rec­om­mend open­ing win­dows and cre­at­ing a cross­wind to pre­vent buildup)

Serve

  • Let sit for 15 min­utes
  • Slice into lit­tle squares
  • Serve with rice or noo­dles

Notes

  • Part of the rea­son I’ve been unable to get a prop­er crack­ling exte­ri­or (apart from my mis­takes) is because I real­ized that the skin has been removed on the pieces I buy. It’s just a fat pad

Tem­per­a­ture Guide (SOURCE)

  • 160–165°F – Fat begins ren­der­ing, meat starts becom­ing ten­der
  • 175°F – Fat ren­dered, meat is ten­der
  • 185°F – Fat most­ly ren­dered, meat very ten­der
  • 195–205°F – Fat ful­ly ren­dered, meat fall-apart ten­der