Cracking Crackling
Perfectly crispy crackling is hard to beat, and surprisingly easy to make! If you have yet to try making it yourself, just follow these simple steps to ensure cracking crackling, every time. For reference, the cooking times given here are for a 2kg Greendale Pork Loin Roast cooked in an electric fan oven; the scoring and salting method is the same for any weight of skin-on pork roasting joint, but please remember that a difference in joint weight will affect the cooking time needed.
Method
- Take the pork joint out of the fridge half an hour before you plan to start cooking it, to allow it to come up to room temperature.
- Pre-heat the oven to 220⁰C (Gas Mark 9). When the pork is at room temperature, sit it securely on a chopping board and use the point of your sharpest knife to score the skin in a series of parallel lines, creating strips about 1cm apart (if preferred, you can score a diamond pattern, though strips are easier to carve and serve with slices of the cooked joint). Be sure to cut only halfway down through the fat, and not all the way down to the meat itself.
- Put the pork in a roasting tin, skin-side up, then sprinkle about a tablespoon of sea salt evenly all over the skin, pressing the crystals in and working them into the scored lines as much as you can.
- Put the pork into the hot oven and roast it for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 170⁰C (Gas Mark 5) and cook for a further 2 hours 15 minutes, or until any juices produced by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the joint run totally clear, with no hint of pinkness.
- Allow the cooked pork to rest for 30 minutes before carving, with plenty of crackling alongside each slice.
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