Easy Roast Pork With Perfect Crackling Recipes

PORK ROAST WITH CRISPY PORK CRACKLING

Steps:

• Dry skin: Pat the skin dry with paper towels. If time permits, leave in the fridge uncovered overnight (even 1 hr helps). If not, pat extra well.
• Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
• Season flesh: Sprinkle pork flesh with 1 1/2 tsp salt, all the pepper and all fennel seeds and 1 tbsp olive oil. Rub into flesh, right into all the crevices and cracks.
• Salt skin: Flip pork, drizzle skin with 1 tsp oil, then rub all over with fingers. Sprinkle all over with remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt, taking care to get even coverage. Un-salted patches will not become bubbly crackling, it will be a hard flat sheet.
• Garlic & onion bed: Place halved garlic bulbs and onion in roasting pan. Place pork skin side up on top of them.
• Wine: Carefully pour wine into the pan, being sure not to wet the skin. Transfer to oven.
• Lower oven: Immediately turn oven down to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan).
• Slow roast: Roast for 2 1/2 hours.
• Level at 1 1/2 hours: Check pork after 1 1/2 hours to see if the pork is warped and the skin's overall surface is significantly unlevelled. If so, adjust to make the skin surface as level as possible using balls of foil and moving large dislodged pork pieces to the side (key tip for crispy crackling, Note 3). Then return to oven for the remaining 1 hour.
• Check pan & salt on skin: If pan is drying out, add some water. If there are bald patches on the skin without salt (eg it fell off), spray lightly with oil spray (or brush lightly with oil) then sprinkle with salt. (Remember, salt = bubbly skin!)
• Increase heat: Turn oven up to 250°C/485°F (all oven types), or as high as it will go if your oven won't go this high.
• Make skin crisp: Return pork to oven for 30 minutes, rotating pan as needed, until skin is crisp and bubbly all over. If needed, use foil patches, secured with water soaked toothpicks, to cover parts that are done and keep crisping up remaining patches.
• Rest: Transfer pork to serving platter, tent loosely with foil (don't worry, crackling stays super-crisp) and rest for 20 minutes (stays warm up to 1 hour). Then slice using a serrated knife.
• Serve with gravy. Don't pour gravy over crackling - pour it off to the side! See note for reheating.

ROAST PORK WITH CRISPY CRACKLING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250°C. Using a sharp knife, gently score the skin of the leg across in close parallel lines. Make sure you cut all the way through the skin to the meat. Rub the entire leg with oil and lemon juice and then with the sea salt. Rub well into the scores as this not only seasons the meat, but helps draw out moisture, producing 'crispy crackling'. Place the roast in a large roasting pan. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180°C. Continue cooking for 25 minutes / 500g of weight, or 1½ hours. Once the roast is done, remove from the oven and rest for 20 minutes before carving to serve.

PERFECT ROAST PORK WITH CRACKLING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 240oC. Place pork on a trivet in a baking dish, skin side down.
• Pour enough water into the baking dish so as not to touch the pork. Add the rosemary to the water.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Turn the pork so that the skin is facing upwards. Sprinkle the skin with salt. Bake for a further 20 minutes the reduce heat to 200oC and cook for a further 20 minutes.
• Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.