Best for: The shattering skin everyone reaches for first.
Siu yuk — Cantonese roast pork with glass-crisp skin — is traditionally roasted in a shop oven, and this recipe is an honest adaptation of it for a covered grill and a cast-iron pan: an overnight salt dry-brine for the skin, indirect heat to render the meat tender, and a final blast that blisters the skin into crackling. The method changes with the equipment; the five-spice meat and the shattering skin do not.
Grill: Two zones, indirect medium heat; 375°F, covered. Equipment: Grill, cast-iron skillet, rack, fork or skewer for pricking, instant-read thermometer.
Ingredients
15 minutes Chill: 8 hours. Rest: 15 minutes. Total: 9 hours 50 minutes.
Belly and seasonings
- 2 lb slab pork belly, skin on, bone out
- 2 teaspoons fine table salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar (for the skin)
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
Directions
Prick the skin all over with a fork or skewer, keeping the holes in the skin only. Rub the meat side (not the skin) with 1 teaspoon of the salt, the five-spice, sugar, white pepper, and Shaoxing wine. Set the belly skin up on a rack in the cast-iron skillet, uncovered, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight so the skin dries.
Heat the grill to 375°F with an indirect zone. Brush the skin with the rice vinegar and rub in the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt.
Set the skillet on the indirect side, close the lid, and roast for 45 minutes, until the meat is tender and the skin is dry and firm.
Brush the skin lightly with the neutral oil and move the skillet over direct medium heat with the lid closed for 15–20 minutes, watching closely, until the skin blisters and puffs all over into crackling.
Check that the meat registers at least 160°F and is tender when probed — belly needs the extra heat to render.
Rest for 15 minutes skin up, then chop through the crackling into bite-size pieces and serve at once.
Grilling tip: Dry skin is the entire recipe — if the skin goes on the grill damp, it leathers instead of blistering, no matter the heat.
