I sure enjoyed the roast meat from Eric’s mum a lot and my missus also roasted some chicken thighs, marinated with the “spicy bake mix”…
…and it was so very nice too and yes, I did say I would try doing it myself so I went and bought a slab of pork belly or what we call sar chan bak (three-layer pork).Β This cost a little over RM10.00, 12 or 14, I cannot remember exactly now so I guess price-wise, it was all right…
I rolled it up and placed it skin-side down in a saucepan, filled it with a little water and boiled it for a while…
I did not want to submerge the whole thing in water as I would not want to lose the sweetness and juices in the meat but the boiling, if I am not wrong, is needed to soften the skin to make it easier to poke holes in it…
I did that once without the boiling using a fork (perhaps it was one of those cheap ones) and despite all that force until the fork ended up bent, I did not manage to get the desired effect on the skin.
After the poking, I rubbed the skin with a bit of vinegar, followed by the mix…
…and I marinated the meat with it too. I did not use a lot, just half of the packet and having done that, I left it in the fridge for around half an hour.
Then I put it in the oven to bake and after one side looked a little done, I turned the slab onto the other side. When both sides were done, I took it out…
…wrapped the meat part in foil, leaving the skin exposed…
…and put it back into the oven.
There! Finally, it was done…
The wrapping did not seem to help a lot as the meat was a little hard in its crusty layer on the outside but it was good on the inside…
However, probably I overcooked it so the skin was quite hard – crusty in parts, crispy at times and there were a few bits that were too hard so I had to spit them out – not much but there were a couple of occasions when I had to do that. I wonder if anybody knows why. Is the skin of varying thickness and hence, the differences…or did I do something wrong? It tasted like those crisp croutons of pork lard found in Penang char kway teow or KL Hokkien mee so I would not say that I was all that excited about it…but yes, the meat was very nice.
Another thing that put me off was there was so much splutter going on in the oven whatever the cause was. Maybe I did not dry the meat enough? Gosh!!! It wasn’t just the oil that dripped onto the baking tray that I had covered with aluminium foil – it made a whole lot of noise and went shooting in all directions, north, south, east and west! That made such a mess in my oven that it required some massive cleaning the next day (when it was no longer so hot). That alone would put me off roasting my own, ever – I think I’d just go out and buy, should I feel like eating it, never mind that it is not as nice and more expensive. For one thing, I would not buy so much so at the end of the day, I would not be eating all that much and that actually would be good for me, right? Hehehehe!!!!
In the meantime, I guess after this, we’d just stick to roasting chicken thighs – they’re very nice too! LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
You did it! That looked good. Yup. Chicken is much easier than this.
It was the skin that was the pain, trying to get it right. π¦
Yup. I gave up after 2 attempts. Both ended up with hard skin, not crispy. Hard to get that consistency. Maybe when I am in good mood, I may try again, maybe this round with my flip pan. Have not testing it in flip pan. ^^
I tried again, worse…post on that tomorrow, I think…but will try again, though not so soon. Not one to give up so easily! π
Really that giant slab cost so little? They sell pork belly for huge prices over here – in restaurants that is – not sure what the actual cost is in the market.
So far here, I know RM50 a kg at one place, RM70 a kg at another. I would go to my regular one near my house and buy RM10, enough for a meal for two or three, at least. Didn’t ask how much per kg, the uncooked one but my missus said it is over RM20, not come to RM30.
So far, i never think of doing this on my own, usually eat from outside…
Easier…and perhaps, even nicer too, depending on where one goes.
I absolutely love roast pork and your photos are making me hungry. π
Cooked it again yesterday since my girl was home and she loved it!!! π
Try roasting it in a turbo broiler, which I use. It is so much easier to clean. Faster too, because it is a smaller size.
Don’t have one but yahor!!! I’ve a small oven I got using my credit card points, Morgan. Wanted to give to my girl to use in her school but she did not want it. I can use that next time – splutter also ok, would be very much easier to clean…without having me trying to climb into the oven to clean it inside out. π
Seldom come across such lean 3 layer pork. Usually very fatty. At least you give it a good try. Jia you!!!!…
Yes, very lean – just a very thin layer of fat under the skin, hardly visible. Sometimes, the ones my missus bought – after getting rid of the fat, not much left to eat. π¦
Sure looks good but no, no thank you.
It’s ok, I’ll have more to enjoy then. Hehehehehe!!!!
Ooohhh!!! That looks good! Could it be because you used one strip of pork belly and that’s why it dried out? I usually see people using one big slab but that would be too much. I don’t think I want to make this at home after hearing about the spluttering of oil all over the oven π¦ That I believe is due to the fat bursting from the high heat. I have had fatty pork dishes exploding when I reheat by microwave.
Oh dear! I dread using the microwave – my missus uses it usually for whatever…
My friend said I should get a wider slab so I could place it skin upwards but I got mine from a fruit and vegetable shop near my house – pre-sliced, packed in plastic and frozen, just pick one…so unless I go to the butcher and ask for a shorter, wider piece, I would just have to make do with what I can get from this shop. I liked how it was not so fat though and the meat was very nice. Wrapping the lean meat part right from the start helped – see tomorrow’s post.
The skin must be very crispy!! Yumz~
Some parts, others crusty…only a little bit that was hard. I wonder why not all the same.
From my (limited) experience with roasting pork, the secret to crispy skin is 1) has to be dry of moisture 2) has to be roasted at a high temperature. From the method you’re using, (boiling the skin first) I’m assuming the skin was too moist and hence it hardened (probably explained why your oven was exploding with oil too!). I usually don’t boil the skin (even though it makes the poking harder) and refrigerate the meat overnight to let the skin dehydrate. You could see drops of liquid coming out from the skin after refrigerating so you’re supposed to wipe it off before roasting. As long as the skin is dry and temperature is high enough (220C+), the skin almost never fails to crisp! π
Thanks and yes, I more or less could guess that the problem was in it being wet. Will make sure that I dry it well the next time I try…and hopefully, it will turn out all right.
Same as mine if I place them in the oven it will come out like that, one fool proof way Filipinos do is to boil the pork so its cooked, cool in the fridge then quickly deep fry in hot oil, skin will be very crispy.
Oh? Like the crispy pata. That is very nice too. Will try again, hopefully will get it right eventually.