CHINESE ROAST PORK BELLY

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), arrange a pan on the bottom 1/3 of oven rack and fill with water. The pork belly should be roasted using the rack above it.

Wash and use paper towels to dry the pork belly.

Make some horizontal slits on the sides of the belly, then rub the meat side with the five spice powder.

Insert each garlic and push them deep inside the pork belly.

Layer the top of the pork belly with the salt evenly.

Place the pork belly on a wire rack. This is how it should look before going into the oven.

Place the pork belly at the top 1/3 of the oven and roast for 1 hour. While baking, the oil will drip to the bottom pan with water.

Bake until the salt crust forms, the salt should be hardened. Check water in the pan below and add if needed. This is how the pork belly and salt crust will look like in the oven. You have to insert the garlic deep inside the horizontal slits or else they will be pushed out during the roasting process.

Remove the pork belly from the oven, pull off the salt crust and discard.

Raise the heat of oven to 465°F (240°C), place the pork belly back in the oven and roast for another 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes.

Cut and serve immediately with some chili sauce and hoisin sauce, or eat as is.