What's up guys? Welcome back to my channel, Rack of
Lam. If you're new here, I am Maggie a mom with a big appetite! If you've seen my previous videos,
you know that I speak fluent Cantonese and that's because I am Chinese. And guess what?
Chinese New Year is right around the corner and you have less than a month to plan the
ultimate feast! You don't want to show up to a party empty-handed or as the Chinese would say
(translation: holding 2 bunches of banana), so I have three options for you: one: you can head over to my channel to learn
how to make Char Siu or Chinese barbecue roast pork directly in your airfryer. I'll link it above
and in the descriptions below for your convenience. Two: you can continue watching to learn how
to make crispy pork belly or 脆皮烧肉, also in your air fryer and three: make both!
Show up to the party with both hands. Roast meat is very popular during lunar
new year and I guarantee they will not disappoint. If you enjoyed my video, don't forget
to like, subscribe and click the bell icon below to be notified of all my future
uploads. Make sure you stay till the end of the video if you want to learn how to say
some Chinese greetings for Lunar New Year. I bought this large piece of pork belly
from my local Asian supermarket recently. There's no cutting allowed, so I was stuck
with this size, which weighed 3.26 pounds. Great for a Chinese New Year gathering but not a
family of three. I'm cutting this in two, storing half in the fridge to make crispy pork belly
tomorrow and the remainder is going straight into the freezer, because there is no way a
family of three can finish this entire piece. Early afternoon the next day, I removed the pork
belly from the fridge to prepare it for dinner. You want your pork to contain fairly proportional
fat and meat when making crispy pork belly. Thin skin with a layer of juicy
fat and a good amount of meat. This piece looks pretty decent to me.
What do you think? Begin by placing your pork belly into a pot and pouring
enough water to fully submerge the pork. Here I am using six cups of water. I also boil my pork with the skin
side down. Oops I meant the other way. Now place one teaspoon of salt into the water and bring it to a boil to remove
the impurities from the pork. I turned my fire on high heat and it
took between 10 to 15 minutes to boil. Once the water bubbles and you see
the gunk floating to the surface, turn off the fire, discard the water
and give your pork belly a good rinse. Place your pork belly onto a plate and
take it to the spa for some pampering. Warning graphic content ahead. Specifically hair plucking. So you may get lucky if you come
home with a nicely shaven pork belly. If you're unfortunate like me, you may need to
pluck some hair, either prior or after par boiling. If you have a blow torch, sure fire away or
just use tweezers like I am. Let me know if you have other tips and if you've tried using Nair,
wax strips, an epilator or laser hair removal. When the skin is nice and silky smooth,
start stabbing the pork belly with a meat tenderizer if you have, or a fork if
you don't. Metal skewers would work as well. I did count how many times I
poked holes into this pork skin and the result was about a hundred.
The more you poke the better. You want to prick more little holes because
they are what causes the signature crackling on Chinese pork belly. However, don't poke it
too deep into the skin or until you reach the meat because this will result in bubbling
of juices that will cause blotches on the skin. You will begin to see juices coming to
the surface. Make sure you blot as much as you can because the dry skin
is critical in a crackling crust. To draw out excess liquid, apply some
white distilled vinegar onto the skin. I poured one teaspoon onto a small plate
and started brushing vinegar onto the skin. The entire teaspoon wasn't used as I stopped
when I felt the skin was thoroughly covered. How fitting was the plate by the way? Next, sprinkle one teaspoon of salt
and rub it throughout the skin. This also aids in liquid removal. You want
your pork skin to be as dry as possible. Rock salt is commonly used
because they are easier to remove, but one teaspoon of fine sea salt never failed
me and doesn't result in overly salty pork. Now place the pork belly into the fridge,
uncovered, for about four hours or up to 12 hours. The air in the refrigerator is dry,
so it will help in drying out the skin. I removed the pork belly from the fridge twice
and blotted off the juice that rose to the surface. This snippet here makes it
very clear that the vinegar and salt are very effective in drawing out liquid. I blotted the skin the second time
then threw it back into the fridge. When it came time to do some air frying, I
removed the pork from the fridge once again, 30 minutes prior to cooking to allow
the meat to get back to room temperature. The skin was blotted one last time to ensure
it is completely dry and I removed some fat on the bottom to even out and level the meat.
Don't let your hard work go to a waste and make sure you turn the skin onto a napkin
if you see any residual juices on the plate. Here I have removed some fat and
attempted to even out the bottom. Next thing you want to do is score the meat.
A crackling skin is important, without a doubt, but flavorful, juicy meat below is just as
essential, so don't focus on one and not the other. As you may see, my pork belly had some
bones on them so I did my best in scoring. Sprinkle one teaspoon of five
spice powder all over the meat. Try to get them inside the cuts so
your meat can be extra flavorful. Rub the spice onto the skin
and do not forget the sides! Likewise, sprinkle one teaspoon of salt onto
the meat and rub it all over with your hands. If you prefer more five spice
powder or salt, feel free to add more. To keep the meat juicy, wrap it with aluminum foil, creating somewhat of a box
to sit the pork belly in. Welcome to aluminum foil craft
101 with Maggie from Rack of Lam. Now pop it into your air fryer
and cook at 390 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes, or less, if you are
cooking with a smaller piece of pork belly. I like to check on it after 15 minutes and
turn to ensure heat is evenly distributed, but that is optional. As you can see, the skin
is beginning to crackle after just 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, it looked amazing! I decided
to cut it open because I was curious whether it was fully done, since I have cooked smaller
pieces that were complete after half an hour. Before we cut this, let's adore
the physical beauty of crispy pork belly and enjoy the sounds of
a cleaver against the crackling skin. You will notice a bed of liquid on
the aluminum foil, which I discarded. Crackling skin? Check! Cooked meat? Hell to the no! Don't worry, pop this back into your air fryer for three
to five minutes and results will be awesome! Similarly, I threw these pieces of pork belly back
into the air fryer and cooked for another three to five minutes and they came out wonderful. Skin was
still crackling and the meat was cooked and juicy. As with my Char Siu recipe, the moral of the story is:
the air frying time and even temperature may vary, depending on your air fryer and size and weight
of your meat. For my cut, 390 degrees for 40 minutes got the job done, but be sure to adjust accordingly.
Look at this! This was a huge success! With the help of an air fryer, you can effortlessly roast meat right at home. Plate the crispy pork belly and celebrate
Chinese New Year with the best of the best! And to that, I will close the video with this: 祝大家新年快樂 (Wish everyone a happy new year). 牛年行好運 (Luck during the Ox year). 身體健康 (Good health). 大吉大利 (Lots of luck and profits). 做什麼都一帆风顺 (Everything goes smoothly in all you do). 龙马精神 (Energy of a dragon and horse). 合家愉快 (Happiness for your entire family). If you enjoyed watching, don't forget to
like my video and subscribe to my channel. Thank you for watching and I
wish everyone a happy new year!
