Roast pork

This Movement Control Order period has not been sitting pretty on people's appetite. I've been looking at some of the most fabulous food prepared by my friends on facebook and Whatsapp. Criz Lai, for example, who was my clerk when we were still at Ban Hin Lee Bank in the 1980s, still cooks up a storm for his lunch and dinner every day. How I envy his culinary skill.

And then on separate occasions, one of my schoolmates chose to inform his cohorts on Whatsapp that he had made a mouth-watering chunk of roast pork. He was kind enough to share his recipe with us, and I am reproducing here without his permission, of course, but I know he doesn't mind.

Instructions:

1. Blanch pork in boiling water for five minutes. 
2. Make cuts approx 1” wide and 2cm deep along the length of the opposite side of the skin. 
3. Season the meat, not the skin. 
4. Poke lots of holes in the skin. I use a pointed knife. I have one of those gadgets that look like a bunch of nails together, but I prefer a pointed knife. 
5. Wrap in foil, skin side up and exposed. Refrigerate overnight. 
6. Lightly brush white (or rice) vinegar over skin. 
7. Cover entire skin end-to-end with a thick layer (at least 2mm) of salt. 
8. Then bake with foil intact for 45 minutes at 180C, with a tray of water below. 
9. Remove salt (it’ll be like a biscuit), open but don't remove foil and put it back in the oven for another 35 to 40 minutes at 240C. 
10. Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes after removing from oven. 

And voila, he exclaimed. Extremely crispy roast pork. "Oh, one other thing," he added, "make sure the slab of pork is about the same thickness throughout, by slicing off the uneven bits."

At about the same time too, another chap I know announced through one of my Whatsapp chat groups that he had also made an attempt at roast pork. His method was by following some instructions from a facebook page called Inherited Recipes With Love.  Here is the recipe, reproduced again without anyone's permission. Sorry 🙏 but it's for the common good since everyone's feeling so bored after depleting one's array of personal recipes.

Ingredients:

· 8" x 8" pork belly
· 4 tbsp coarse salt
· 1 tbsp baking soda
· 1 tbsp vinegar
· 1 tbsp oil

Marinade for underside of pork belly:

· 1 tsp 5 spice pepper
· 1 tsp chopped garlic
· 1 tsp cooking salt
· 1 tsp sugar
· 1 tbsp cooking wine

Instructions:

1. Score the underside of the belly. 
2. Mix the marinate and apply it to the underside of the belly. 
3. Turn the pork belly skin up, prick the surface with a sharp pointed knife or score it. Apply a tbsp of coarse salt and baking soda on it. 
4. Leave the belly pork to marinate for an hour under a colander. 
5. Put in a tray of water under the low rack of the roaster. Place the pork belly skin up on the low rack. Soak up any excess moisture with kitchen paper. Apply vinegar to the belly skin and top up with the balance of the coarse salt. Roast pork belly for 25 min at 180C. 
6. Remove the belly pork from roaster; and totally remove the salt crust from its skin. Remove the tray of water too. 
7. Prick the skin again and brush oil on it. 
8. Grill belly skin up for 30 min at 250C or till nicely brown using the low rack. Off the power and remove the roaster's cover. 
9. Cool well before cutting and serving.