Air Fryer Crispy Pork Belly Recipe (空气炸脆皮烧肉) | Lunar New Year Dish | Chicharrónes | RACK OF LAM

What's up guys? Welcome back to my channel, Rack of Lam. If you're new here, I'm Maggie, a mom with a big appetite. If you've seen my previous videos, you'll know that I speak fluent Cantonese and that's because I'm 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 prepare Char Siu or Roast Pork to Chinese barbecue directly in your air

fryer

.

I'll link it above and in the descriptions below for your convenience. Two: you can keep 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 the

lunar

new

year

and I guarantee you will not be disappointed. If you enjoyed my video, don't forget to like, subscribe and click the bell icon below to receive notifications of all my future uploads. Make sure you stay until the end of the video if you want to learn how to say some Chinese greetings for the Lunar New Year.

I bought this big piece of

pork

belly

at my local Asian supermarket recently. Cutting is not allowed, so I stuck with this size, which weighed 3.26 pounds. Great for a Chinese New Year gathering, but not for a family of three. I'm going to cut this in two, keep half in the fridge to make

crispy

pork belly tomorrow, and the rest will go straight in the freezer, because there's no way a family of three can finish this whole piece. The next day, early in the afternoon, I took the pork belly out of the refrigerator to prepare 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 seems pretty decent to me. What do you think? Start by placing the pork belly in a pot and pouring in enough water to completely submerge the pork. Here I am using six cups of water. I also boil the pork skin side down. Oops, I meant the other way around. Now put a teaspoon of salt in the water and let it boil to remove the impurities from the pork.

I turned the heat on high and it took about 10-15 minutes to boil. Once the water is bubbling and you see the dirt floating on the surface, turn off the heat, discard the water, and rinse the pork belly well. Place the pork belly on a plate and take it to the spa for a little pampering. Warning graphic content ahead. Specifically hair removal. So you might be lucky to come home with a clean shaven pork belly. If you're unlucky like me, you may have to pull out some of your hair, either before or after boiling. If you have a blowtorch, be sure to shoot it or just use tongs like I do.

Let me know if you have any 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 poking the pork belly with a meat tenderizer if you have one, or a fork if you don't. Metal skewers would also work. I counted how many times I made holes in this pigskin and the result was approximately one hundred. The more you click, the better. You want to poke more small holes because they are what cause the characteristic crunch of Chinese pork belly. However, do not push it too deep into the skin or all the way to the meat because this will cause bubbling of juices that will cause spots on the skin.

You will start to see juices coming to the surface. Make sure to dry as much as you can because dry skin is essential for a crispy crust. To remove excess liquid, apply a little distilled white vinegar to your skin. I poured a teaspoon into a small plate and began applying vinegar to the skin. I didn't use the whole teaspoon because I stopped when I felt like the skin was completely covered. By the way, how suitable was the plate? Next, sprinkle a teaspoon of salt and rub it all over your skin. This also helps in the elimination of fluids.

You want your pigskin to be as dry as possible. Rock salt is commonly used because it is easier to remove, but a teaspoon of fine sea salt has never failed me and does not result in overly salty pork. Now place the pork belly in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about four hours or up to 12 hours. Refrigerator air is dry, so it will help dry out your skin. I took the pork belly out of the refrigerator twice and mopped up the juices that rose to the top. This fragment makes it very clear that vinegar and salt are very effective in extracting liquid.

I dried the skin the second time and then put it back in the refrigerator. When it was time to air fry, I removed the pork from the refrigerator once again, 30 minutes before cooking to allow the meat to return to room temperature. I patted the skin one last time to ensure it was completely dry and removed some fat from the bottom to even out and level the meat. Don't let your hard work go to waste and be sure to wipe the skin over a napkin if you see any residual juice on the plate. Here I removed some fat and tried to level the bottom.

The next thing you need to do is mark the meat. A crispy skin is important, no doubt, but tasty, juicy meat underneath is equally essential, so don't focus on one and not the other. As you can see, my pork belly had some bones in it, so I did my best to score. Sprinkle a teaspoon of five-spice powder all over the meat. Try to insert them inside the cuts so that the meat is tastier. Rub the spice into the skin and don't forget the sides! Also, sprinkle a teaspoon of salt over the meat and rub it 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 a kind of box to place the pork belly. Welcome to Aluminum Foil Crafting 101 with Maggie from Rack of Lam. Now place it in your air fryer and cook it at 390 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes, or less if you are cooking with a smaller piece of pork belly. I like to check it after 15 minutes and flip it to make sure the heat is evenly distributed, but that's optional. As you can see, the skin starts to c

rack

le after just 15 minutes.

After 30 minutes, it looked amazing! I decided to open it because I was curious to see if it was fully cooked, as I have cooked smaller pieces that were complete after half an hour. Before we cut into this, let's adore the physical beauty of the crispy pork belly and enjoy the sound of a knife against the crispy skin. You will notice a bed of liquid on the aluminum foil, which I discarded. Crunchy skin? Check! Cooked meat? Heck to the no! Don't worry, put it back in your air fryer for three to five minutes and the results will be amazing!

Similarly, I threw these pork belly pieces into the air fryer and cooked them for another three to five minutes and they turned out wonderful. The skin was still crispy and the meat was cooked and juicy. As with my Char Siu

recipe

, the moral of the story is: frying time and even temperature can vary, depending on your fryer and the size and weight of your meat. For my cut, 390 degrees for 40 minutes did the job, but be sure to adjust accordingly. Watch this! This was a huge success! With the help of an air fryer, you can effortlessly grill meat at home.

Serve up the crispy pork belly and celebrate Chinese New Year with the best of the best! And for that I will close the video with this: 祝大家新年快樂 (Wishing everyone a happy new

year

).牛年行好運 (Luck during the year of the Ox).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 well in everything you do).龙马精神 (Energy of a dragon and a horse).合家愉快 (Happiness for your whole family). If you enjoyed watching it, don't forget to like my video and subscribe to my channel. Thanks for watching and I wish you all a happy new year!