Lap yuk 臘肉 - Chinese dried bacon

I have never made lap yuk before. I made this batch of lap yuk together with the lap cheong. It's very easy just marinate and hang to dry, that's it. I am not that crazy with lap yuk like I am with lap cheong, but it is nice to know how to make this.

Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1.75 - 2 kg belly pork
1/2 cup of light soy
1 tbsp dark soy
1/3 cup sugar
2.5 tbsp salt
1 tsp five spice
2 tsp crushed Sichuan peppercorns
1/3 cup Chinese rose wine (mei kwei lu) or Shaoshing wine
5g #2 cure salt (Prague #2 or insta cure #2)

Method:

Cut the belly into long strip about 3 - 4 cm thick.

Mix the marinade together then mix with the pork.

Put pork and marinade in plastic ziploc bag and leave in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. Turn the bag once or twice a day to ensure the meat is evenly marinated.

Take the pork out and make a hole using a skewer about 1" from the end then push a small piece of string through. Tie the string into a loop.

Hang the meat on a pole or wire clothe hanger, leave enough room between each piece for good air flow. Leave to dry somewhere airy. I just leave mine to hang in the kitchen near a open window.

The meat will get drier and drier. About a week it will be ready.

I had some steamed with lap cheong. I left the skin on. When steamed it was soft enough to chew when hot and was leathery when cool. The flavour of the pork is nice. The fatty meat is very firm and translucent. The lean meat part is chewy. It's not my favourite to eat it steamed. I will use the rest to braise with something or chopped and add to something like lo bak goh or dim sum etc....

Keep the dried bacon in the fridge or freezer. I am not sure how long it will keep in the fridge before it will go off or turn rancid, so if you want to keep it for longer 2 - 3 few weeks, I'd strongly suggest leaving it in the freezer.