How to make pork crackling (2024)

FAQs

How to make pork crackling? ›

Rub them all over with salt, then put them in a hot oven on a griddle. After 30 minutes turn the oven down to medium hot, and cook for 1.5–2hr more. The fat should all drain out leaving the pork belly crisp. Delicious.

HIGH HEAT. “A searing hot oven to start is the best way to get crisp crackling,” says Valli Little, of delicious. Between 220C and 240C for 20 to 30 minutes is the recommendation, then reduce the temperature to a range of 160C to 180C. Pork meat is at its best when it's just pink verging on white.

The skin wasn't dry enough. Make sure to pat the pork completely dry before rubbing in the salt and oil as excess moisture will stop it from crisping up. It's important to score the skin if you want it really crisp. You'll need a sharp knife for this, or ask your butcher to do it for you.

Another technique to get the perfect pork crackling is after you have pricked your pork skin, wipe it down with white vinegar before you apply the salt and let it rest uncovered in the fridge. Please note that we are only applying salt to the skin side, not the meat side.

Place the pork, rind-side up, in a roasting pan. Drizzle the oil over the pork, then rub the salt mixture into the cuts. Rub a little oil and salt into the scored rind and place in the oven.

boiling water trick

This helps to prep the skin to crackle as its now "pre-cooked" so to speak. Make sure to pat dry with paper towel to further dry afterwards.

If you've missed a step along the way and the skin hasn't crackled, don't give up. Cut it away from the meat and place it on a baking tray lined with foil, then brush with oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook under a preheated grill until the magic happens. Keep a close eye on it as it can easily burn.

Place the roast on a wire rack inside a baking tray and cook at 240°C (max 250°C conventional) until the rind just starts to crackle, up to 50 minutes. If the roast is over 2kg, take 10 minutes off this initial crackling time.

After degreasing your crackling using a paper towel, place the cracklings in an airtight container. You can also settle for a food-storage bag that can be sealed and not permeable to air. It's best to avoid paper bags as they'd soil up in the fridge or freezer and ruin your pork crackling.

Cook over a dry heat

Cooking your pig on the rotisserie with the heat to the side is the best way because the skin is getting intense direct heat. I recommend cooking on high heat in the first instance to scorch the skin.

How long to cook pork belly on spit? ›

At the barbecue:

Place the spike in the rotisserie and put a drip pan with water under the pork belly. The fat can drip into this, avoiding flare ups. Put the lid on the barbecue. Roast the pork belly for 1.5 - 2 hours – until the core temperature has reached 67-70°C.

High heat is the final key to pork crackling. Don't rush the process at the final hurdle, let the oven preheat for at least 20 minutes to 230°C. Put the pork in quickly but carefully so the oven stays hot. Depending on the size of your meat, it can take between 30-50 minutes to crisp up completely.

Preheat oven to 230°C, 210°C fan or Gas Mark 8. Put the joint in a roasting tin on the top shelf for 20 minutes. This sudden blast of heat is the key to crispy crackling. Reduce the temperature to 180-190°C, 160-170°C fan or Gas Mark 4-5 and follow the cooking times below to ensure the joint is cooked through.

Now the pork is ready to cook, but there's another trick to follow here, to get even better crackling. Always start with high heat, to get the crackling going! Try 20-30 minutes at 220c-240c then reduce the temperature to a medium heat for the remainder of the cooking (170-190C).

Using Smeg's 'Ferrari' function, supercook and apple cider vinegar results in exceptional, toothsome crackling with meltingly tender pork. For best results, rub with salt and vinegar the day before and dry thoroughly before roasting.

After degreasing your crackling using a paper towel, place the cracklings in an airtight container. You can also settle for a food-storage bag that can be sealed and not permeable to air. It's best to avoid paper bags as they'd soil up in the fridge or freezer and ruin your pork crackling.

Nope. The best crackling needs dry air, and covering will keep condensation on the skin. Covering a joint of meat when cooking does generally help to ensure a juicier joint, but if you use a joint of pork with some fat marbling, this fat will help to keep the meat tender without the need to cover.