Chinese cured pork belly 腊肉 pronounced là ròu in Mandarin and lop yuk in Cantonese is a staple in Chinese cuisine. Late autumn/early winter is a great time to make this at home.
I just whipped up two batches, and I couldn’t believe how good it was! The first batch was quickly divided up and given out as gifts, and I had to promptly make another batch for ourselves.
I have to say, this is one of the best versions of this Chinese cured pork belly or maybe any Chinese cured meat that I’ve ever had.
It was originally not in the plan to do this as a recipe post for the blog, knowing that it probably wouldn’t be as popular as our Milk Bread or Pork Fried Rice, but one night, I threw a piece of this cured pork belly into the rice cooker and cooked it together with the rice, and Sarah and Kaitlin demolished the entire thing!
It was decided on the spot that we needed to document this homemade Chinese cured pork belly recipe for future generations.
A Grandma Recipe
For the longest time, the only person in the family that made this cured pork belly was Bill’s grandmother, who is 95 years old and still lives in Chinatown.
Every year, when winter chases away autumn, she makes a large batch and shares it with her kids and grandkids––all four generations have been eating the lap yuk she makes for years now.
Whenever we ask her for the recipe, she always talks about how easy it is. In her own words: “Just marinate the pork in some light soy sauce, ginger, some wine, and a little bit of whiskey, and hang it by the window. That’s it.”
She is right…it is pretty simple. But our instructions are thankfully a little more detailed!
Recipe Notes
- The color of the pork belly in the photos came out darker than I’d have liked. I made adjustments to the recipe accordingly by reducing the amount of dark soy sauce.
- If you don’t have baijiu (白酒), a Chinese hard liquor that’s traditionally used in this recipe, whiskey is a good alternative. Remember to mix the hard liquor with the sauce after it’s completely cooled off.
- Make sure all the utensils, containers and your hands are squeaky clean as you prepare the pork belly for curing.
- The drying condition should be cool, dry and with air flow, temperature should be around 50 – 60 degree Fahrenheit.
- Store-bought lap yuk is usually available in longer pieces. I cut each piece in half, as each piece is a good portion for one dish.
Chinese Cured Pork Belly: Recipe Instructions
In a small saucepan, add the ginger, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon sticks, Sichuan peppercorns, salt, dark soy sauce (老抽), light soy sauce (生抽), Shaoxing wine, and sugar. Place the pot over medium heat, and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. The process should only take a few minutes. Shut off the heat and allow to cool completely.
While waiting for the sauce to cool, rinse the pork belly and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels. The pork should be as dry as possible. Arrange the pieces neatly in a shallow, rimmed dish.
Once the sauce has completely cooled, stir in the baijiu (白酒 – a Chinese liquor) or whiskey.
Pour the mixture over the pork, making sure the meat is completely submerged. You can even put a clean plate or bowl on top to weight down the meat. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 3 full days, flipping the pork belly once each day to ensure the sauce penetrates the meat evenly.
After 3 days, it’s time to hang them up to cure. Use kitchen string and a bamboo skewer to thread the string through the fat in the pork belly.
Tie a knot to make a sturdy loop, and hang the pork belly in a cool dry place. I used our basement, which has optimal temperature and humidity levels (you want the temperature to remain around 50-55 degrees F, and the relative humidity should be around 65%. I kept the window open during the day to let in fresh air. The window is screened and we close off the room to keep out houses flies and any other critters out. Note: this cured pork belly is best made during the colder months!
Layer some newspaper over some plastic on the floor to catch any liquid that drips from the pork, and let it dry for 4-6 days until the outer layer is completely dry and the inside is still slightly soft when pressed. To store, put in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible. They can be frozen for up to 3 months for dishes like this Hong Kong Style Clay Pot Rice!
Clay pot rice is a well-known dish in Hong Kong and Guangdong in the winter months. You want to know how popular? It’s so popular that many restaurants start making them before customers actually walk in the door. This is how certain they are that they will be sold. Along with some blanched choy sum, you got yourself a perfect comforting meal that’s over the top. And that’s just one other application for this cured pork belly!
To prepare this pork belly in the most simple (and delicious) way, just add rice and water to your rice cooker as you normally would to cook a batch of white rice. Then just toss a piece of this cured pork belly on top, close the lid and press START.
Once the rice is done steaming, your pork belly will also be heated through. Slice up your lap yuk and mix it with your rice!
It is soooo good!
Side note: Barley could barely contain herself while we were taking photos for this post. We had to shoo her away from the delicious smell of cured pork belly quite a few times!
Chinese Cured Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 3 slices ginger
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/3 cup dark soy sauce
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
- 1 cup Shaoxing wine
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 1/2 lbs boneless pork belly
- 3 tablespoons baijiu (a Chinese liquor; can substitute whiskey)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add the ginger, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, and sugar. Place the pot over medium heat, and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. The process should only take a few minutes. Shut off the heat and allow to cool completely.
- While waiting for the sauce to cool, rinse the pork belly and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels. The pork should be as dry as possible. Arrange the pieces neatly in a shallow, rimmed dish.
- Once the sauce has completely cooled, stir in the baijiu or whiskey. Pour the mixture over the pork, making sure the meat is completely submerged. You can even put a clean plate or bowl on top to weight down the meat. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 3 full days, flipping the pork belly once each day to ensure the sauce penetrates the meat evenly.
- After 3 days, it’s time to hang them up to cure. Use kitchen string and a bamboo skewer to thread the string through the fat in the pork belly. Tie a knot to make a sturdy loop, and hang the pork belly in a cool dry place. I used our basement, which has optimal temperature and humidity levels (you want the temperature to remain around 50-55 degrees F, and the relative humidity should be around 65%. I kept the window open during the day to let in fresh air. Note: this cured pork belly is best made during the colder months!
- Layer some newspaper on the floor to catch any liquid that drips from the pork, and let it dry for 4-6 days until the outer layer is completely dry and the inside is still slightly soft when pressed. To store, put in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible.
- To prepare this pork belly in the most simple (and delicious) way, just add rice and water to your rice cooker as you normally would to cook a batch of white rice. Then just toss a piece of pork belly on top and steam as normal. Once the rice is done steaming, your pork belly will also be heated through. Slice it up and mix it with your rice!
I bought a store bough version and threw it in the rice cooker to steam with my rice. I’ve tried both store-bought and homemade (my aunt cured her own in our backyard). But this time it came out decent but a little flavourless and the pork skin was quite tough. Any tips/ideas on how to deal with this?
Also, I want to start curing my own but I’m in Newcastle, UK where it is all rainy, windy and cold. Would it be smart to do the curing on the balcony (because the outside is pretty cold and lots of wind) and just bring it in before it starts to rain? What if it gets too hot? Or if the sun is shining extra bright and makes it too warm? Worried about temperature control.
Hi Pheobe, definitely check the weather ahead of time before the making process. The weather should be cold, dry, sunny and best with a little breeze.
Hi, love this recipe. I just bought some pork belly and it has hair on it. Reading about removing hair I discovered that there are several ways. Do you know if using a standard razor blade and shaving the skin will be good enough? I am wondering if after shaving the hair below the skin will be unpleasant when eating.
Hi Gordon, it’s best to take the time and pluck the hairs out :-)
The cured pork belly can be air dried in the fridge using same hanging contraption.
Temperature wise is near perfect.
The meat is already preserved with sugar and salt (in the soy sauce) so spoilage risk is minimal.
Thank you for the tips, Chanh.
maam do I read it right. do we need to steam the rice it here and topoings with the cured meat or just cook the rice in rice cooker and put the pork on top of it
Hi Cheng, we usually just put the meat on top or press them into the rice and cook everything in the rice cooker. That said, you can also cook the rice separately and steam the cured pork belly on its own but use a bowl or shallow plate so you can recover the sauce/drippings after steaming ;-)
You can “just cook the rice in a rice cooker and put the pork on top of it”.
What a treat! Now this was really a show-stopper. As always your confident, gently encouraging presentation gave me the push to try something new and this was the best (and, let’s be honest, the most unusual) experience yet. I also really appreciate the encouraging discussion in the comments about the refrigerator method for drying.
My 3 pounds of pork belly, cut into 16 pieces, fit perfectly into a 2-gallon zip lock bag for marinating and with all the air removed, and resting on a cutting board, it was easy to remove from the refrigerator to flip twice daily.
My Midwestern basement is ten degrees too warm so I first tried drying it in a wine cooler which I could set to the desired temperature, but after two days the humidity remained far too high. Although the fan runs more often than in a refrigerator there is less air mass to help evaporate the moisture. So I removed all perishables from the basement refrigerator, set it to its highest temp, and over six days that worked perfectly: a little cooler than your specified range but the humidity remained below 50% and did the job.
You’ve joined the very exclusive Pantheon of a handful of chefs whose recipes I trust on first try to come out exactly as pictured and promised. Can’t wait to try clay pot rice! Big thanks again!
Thank you so much for your generous praise, Brian. Two thumbs up for a job well done!!!
It has been difficult to find the Sichuan peppercorns. Can this be substituted with white peppercorn or anything else that may be easier to find?
You can use white peppercorns, Andrea, but just know that Sichuan peppercorns have a unique flavor that’s more ideal for this application.
Hello, would it be a good idea to cure in refrigerator uncovered instea?
Yes, it is a good idea, especially during the warmer months.
Hi Judy. Gathered my ingredients and can’t wait to try this. I’m curious, could the curing be accomplished with a food dehydrator? That’s a higher temperature than you are looking for, even at the lowest setting. Thanks!
Hi Brian, I think it’s ok to use a food dehydrator to dry until the outer layer is dry but the inside still soft and moist. It’s just that I have never tried it and I only feel safe using a cold curing method to ensure the safety of the meat.
Hi There. This cured Pork Belly looks fantastic..
Once it has been dried, can it be eaten like that or should it be cured. In other words can you eat it like Jerky, or what we call in South Africa is Biltong, which is dried beef of game
My apologies. That should read – should it be cooked, or can it be eaten as is?
It should be cooked :-)
Hi Tony, it is not a custom for us to eat this cured pork belly raw :-)
I love this recipe and have been making this now for a number of years the whole family loves this and my son in particular loves this quickly fried up in the wok with an egg for breakfast :) Thankyou for sharing this and the many other fantastic recipes on this site.
You are so welcome, Nick :-)
Hi Judy, could you give me tips on how I could cure this in the refrigerator instead? After three days of refrigeration in the sauce, how can I complete the curing in the fridge?
Hi Meghna, just prop them up for air circulation and a place a tray to catch the (sauce) drippings. Also make sure they are uncovered.