This item
Pork Belly
- Alternating layers of lean and fat
- Usually a rectangular slab or thick slice
- Skin-on pieces have one intact skin side
Meat
Pork Belly
A layered cut from the pig belly, showing alternating bands of lean meat and white fat and often sold skin-on.
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3 identity clues
- Alternating layers of lean and fat
- Usually a rectangular slab or thick slice
- Skin-on pieces have one intact skin side
Names in other languages
- 繁體中文
- 五花腩
- English
- Pork Belly
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Perut babi (五花腩)
- Tagalog
- Liempo / tiyan ng baboy (五花腩)
Name in Cantonese (Jyutping): ng5 faa1 naam5 No Cantonese voice on this device
What is it?
Pork belly is the precise cut corresponding to Hong Kong 豬腩肉 and the market term 五花腩. The “five-flower” name refers to its familiar layered lean-and-fat appearance.
How to identify it
Look for a rectangular belly slab with continuous alternating layers of lean and white fat. Skin-on pieces have an intact skin surface on one side; not every fatty pork cut is pork belly.
Common confusion
Compare
Lean Pork
- Mostly solid lean cross-section
- No repeated internal fat layers
- Usually boneless, whole or sliced
How to identify it
Pork belly has continuous alternating lean-and-fat layers; lean pork is mainly solid muscle with little internal fat.
Common Hong Kong household uses
Commonly braised, red-cooked, roasted, steamed or sliced for stir-fries.
Choosing & preparing
Keep raw pork separate from cooked food, use separate boards and knives, wash hands and contact surfaces, and cook the centre to at least 75°C for 30 seconds.
Storage
Keep covered on the lowest refrigerator shelf at 4°C or below. Freeze at -18°C or below and thaw at 0–4°C or in a microwave.
Helper tip
Confirm skin-on or skinless and whole or sliced. The layered cross-section is the main visual check.
What Ma’am or Sir may say
買一斤連皮五花腩，切四厘米件。The employer wants about one catty of skin-on pork belly cut into pieces about four centimetres wide.
Useful market phrase
唔該要一斤連皮五花腩，肥瘦均勻。Meaning: One catty (斤) of skin-on pork belly with an even balance of fat and lean meat, please.
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Sources (8)
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Public Market Items - Pork
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Pork Cantonese pinyin
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Public Market Items Multilingual Booklet
- Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department — CENSTAT COMMON PRODUCTS
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong Humanum Research Centre — Cantonese Pronunciation Dictionary
- The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong — Jyutping Romanization Scheme
- Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety — Safety Tips on Handling Pork
- Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety — Prevention of Cross-contamination