Siew Yoke recipe

Here’s our easy siew yoke recipe!

Easy siew yoke recipe

Siew yoke or Chinese roast pork belly is a staple dish in many Cantonese restaurants around the world. Along with char siew and roast chicken, it is considered a part of siu mei 燒味 or roasted meat dishes in the Cantonese cuisine. 

While siew yoke can be easily found in most Chinese restaurants here in Malaysia, it is also quite easy to make this dish at home with an oven. 

Siew yoke recipe – what makes a good siew yoke?

So what are the qualities of a good siew yoke? A good siew yoke has super crispy and crackling skin. 
The meat should also be tender and well-seasoned, but never too salty. 

Finally, a good pork belly cut should have a good ratio of fat-to-meat. The most desirable cut is what we call the three-layer meat or 三层肉 – which has three distinct layers of skin, fat and meat. 

This cut is also generally known as samgyeop-sal (삼겹살) in Korean – which also literally translates to three-layer meat. The samgyeop-sal is particularly popular for Korean BBQ. 

This three-layer is ideal as the fat renders into the meat and skin during the roasting process. However, a five-layer meat (skin-fat-meat-fat-meat) is also very good for siew yoke.

Siew yoke recipe – how our seasoning differs 

The seasoning for siew yoke is simple with salt and five-spice powder as the core ingredients. Most recipes tend to include fermented red beancurd (nam yue or 南乳 in Cantonese). 

However, we like to substitute nam yue with minced garlic as the main aromatic for that distinct, umami, garlicky flavour.

Tips to make crackling skin

So how do you make the skin crispy and crackling? The key is to ensure the skin is very dry during the roasting process. 

To achieve this – we incorporate a few key steps. 

1. Clean and pat dry 

First, we clean the skin thoroughly by scraping the skin with a sharp knife to remove any hair and impurities. The key is to go against the growth of the hair, or use a pair of tweezers to pluck out the hair. Wash the pork belly with water and make sure to really pat dry with a paper towel. 

2. Poke holes and marinade meat only 

Use a fork or a knife to poke holes. This is to allow moisture to escape the skin. Cut ridges on the meat side about 1/3 deep and 1-inch apart.

 We rub the marinade on the meat, but never on the skin as we want to ensure the skin remains dry. 

3. Chillin’ in the fridge 

If possible, allow meat to chill uncovered in the fridge overnight. The cold air in the fridge will sap out the moisture.

 4. Wrap me up!

On the day of roasting, take out the meat to cool down in room temperature for 30 minutes. Then, wrap the slab of meat in aluminium foil but leave the skin uncovered.

This step is to ensure the meat retains its shape during the roasting process. Make sure the meat lies flat, and you may use roasting needles to secure the meat if necessary.

The foil also catches the juices and ensures the meat remains moist. 

5. Salt and vinegar 

Before placing the meat in the oven, we pat the skin dry again and brush it lightly with vinegar. The vinegar helps to make pork skin crispy as it sucks out moisture. Finally, pour out a generous layer of coarse salt on top of the skin. Salt further draws out moisture from the meat.

6. Remove salt crust 

The first roasting process is to cook the meat.

Once done, the layer of salt will harden to form a crust. You’ll be able to remove this crust. 

7. Broil it, baby!

The final step to achieve cracklin’ skin! One more brush of vinegar and broil the meat (place the skin closer to the heating elements if possible) at high heat. 

Make sure the meat is flat so it is evenly cooked. Use a roasting needle is needed.

Watch the skin crackle and pop!

8. Cut and serve! 

Once done, remove and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes. Remove meat from foil.

For ease, we recommend cutting the siew yoke into strips with the skin on the chopping board, and the meat-side facing upwards. Finally, enjoy it with mustard or sweet chilli sauce. 

Check out our Video

Check out our Instagram reel below of us making siew yoke!

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Check out our char siew recipe

If you like this, do also check out our char siew recipe in the link below:

• Char siew recipe

Malaysian Char Siew [Recipe]

Check out our nine CNY recipes

Siew yoke is a common dish during Chinese New Year. For more CNY recipes, check out the link below:

• Nine CNY recipes

Chinese New Year recipes