Different areas in China dry pork belly differently, but we have one thing in common — always dry pork belly, sausage, wings, other meat in the cold and dry winter and enjoy them during and shortly after Chinese New Year. Cantonese dried pork belly is so versatile and can be used in many dishes like Clay Pot rice, stir fry veggies, etc. When mom dries pork belly back home on top of her balcony, I was really jealous as I do not have a rooftop, even I have all the Cali sunshine mom is jealous of. I decided to sneak up my apartment rooftop and dry just 2 slices of pork belly. Let’s see how they turn out!
To protect my pork belly, I have been running up and down the rooftop the last full week. Upgraded my belly’s home a few times, to add a laundry bag as a protection from bugs and birds, to add a plastic bag as cover from rain (Bay Area sure has almost the whole year’s rain the past winter!), to add an actual “tent” so no cloth is touching the meat (I found it in a hardware store in Japan Town; it is the last one in the store and usually used to cover leftover food on dining table). What an interesting and “fruitful” journey to dry my pork belly!
RECIPE
- pork belly, ideally with 5 layers, meat and fat after one another
- sufficient salt
- soy sauce
- dark soy sauce
- oyster sauce
- five spice powder
- sugar
- white wine / high degree cooking wine (get rid of pork’s gamy taste and for preservation)
STEP 1: dry pork belly with paper tower, rub it with sufficient salt, which helps more water to be squeezed out
STEP 2: dry pork belly again, put them in the same container with remaining sauce overnight
STEP 3: start drying them for ~7-10 days in direct sunlight, ideally under 15C/60F, cover with cloth if needed. The pork belly will look like having a coat of wax at the end, the fat changes from white color to yellow/red-ish, and the meat portion will shrink quite a lot, becoming red/dark color
- if humidity increases at night, move pork belly indoor, do not need to store in fridge, RT will do
hiding at the farrrr back
