This is Cantonese-style crispy pork belly cooked entirely in the air fryer. The pork is parboiled, dried overnight and then cooked low and slow before finishing hot, giving you juicy meat and proper crackling without the oven.
Category
Dinner
Servings
4
Prep time
24 hours
Cook time
1 hour 05 minutes
This is Cantonese-style crispy pork belly cooked entirely in the airfryer. The pork is parboiled, dried overnight and then cooked low and slow before finishing hot, giving you juicy meat and proper crackling without the oven.
The prep time is 24 hours because you need to let the pork sit in the fridge overnight to to dry out once you've prepped it. The rest of the prep is just 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1kg (2.2 lb) pork belly, skin on
- 3 tsp Shaoxing wine
- ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- sea salt, extra
- black vinegar and soy dipping sauce, to serve
- ice water
Directions
Parboil the pork
Place enough water in a wide saucepan to submerge pork and place over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil, then add the pork, skin side down, and cook for 1 minute, until the skin changes colour.
- Carefully turn pork over and cook for a further 30 seconds. Transfer the pork to a large bowl of iced water, and use a sharp knife to scrape off any debris on the skin surface.
- Remove from the bowl and place onto paper towels. Pat the pork dry with a paper towel.
Score and marinate the pork
Turn pork over and score the flesh with 5mm (0.2in) deep slits at 2.5cm (1 in) wide crossways and vertically to make squares. Take care not to cut through the skin.
- Sprinkle the shaoxing all over the flesh side of the pork.
- Combine Chinese 5 spice, garlic powder, salt, sugar and white pepper in a small bowl, then season liberally all over the meat and down into the slits.
- Turn it over so the skin is facing up. Pierce the skin with a meat tenderiser (or skewers) until you have made little holes all over the skin.
Place a large piece of foil (doubled over) on a wire rack on a tray and place your pork on top skin side up. Try and make sure your pork skin is level, you can put extra foil underneath any sections that need to be propped up. Fold the foil up around the flesh to make a wall so that only the skin is exposed. Season the skin with a little salt.
- Place in the fridge overnight to dry out.
Cook
Preheat an air fryer to 160°C (320°F). Place the pork in the air fryer on its tray and cook for 45 minutes.
- Increase the temperature to 200°C (395°F), and cook for a further 15 minutes, until the skin is crispy.
- Rest the pork for at least 15 mins then chop it up using the scored marks in the flesh and serve with a dipping sauce of soy and black vinegar.
Recipe notes
Cook support
The parboiling of the pork will soften the skin to be able to pierce it with a tenderiser.
Making a wall with the foil around the pork will keep all the pork fat that has rendered out during cooking around the flesh and effectively confit the pork, whilst the skin stays dry.
Sourcing
Ask your butcher for a centre piece of belly with an even thickness, which will help with even cooking throughout.
Storage
This is best eaten straight after cooking while the skin is crispy, as it will lose its crunch if refrigerated and reheated.
Serving ideas
You could try a slaw with Asian dressing for this or rice noodles instead of rice if you like.
