Growing up in a Chinese household, roasted meats regularly made it onto our dinner table each week. However, given the fact that both my mother and father worked full-time jobs, in addition to raising three crazy misbehaved children, these meats were never prepared at home (despite my mother being an amazing cook). It would just take too dang long.

Instead, each week my parents would drive to China town and pick up their groceries, including BBQ pork, roasted duck, and my all-time favorite, roasted pork belly (Siu Yuk in Cantonese). The juicy meat, coupled with the delicious layer of belly fat and impossibly crispy skin was to die for!

While there are countless recipes on how to make roasted pork belly purely with an oven, I’ve never tried my hand at making it myself. A few weeks ago, I got the crazy idea that my first attempt at this would be with sous vide. I figured that if I couldn’t get the impossibly crispy skin, I would have the juiciest meat possible.

You’ll find countless sous vide pork belly recipes online that advocate for a longer cook time (24-72 hours), but to replicate true Chinese crispy roasted pork belly, all you need is 6-8 hours to achieve the perfect texture.

After a few failed attempts, I found that the trick to great crispy roasted pork belly is two-fold:

First, you need to ensure it is as flat as possible when you’re cooking it in your water bath. Without some structural support during the sous vide process, the pork belly will naturally fold up, making it harder to crisp up in the oven in the final step.

Second, a light brushing of white vinegar before you broil it will ensure a nice even, and faster, browning.

While I did it at 72.5C, future attempts will have me experimenting with lower temperatures such as 62.5C.

Now go enjoy a piece of my childhood and make some delicious roasted pork belly!