Crackling!?

Question

How do you get perfect Crackling??

I have done roast pork Loads of times but am yet to get good crackling.!

Answer 1

Well, first of all you need to start with good pork.

Factory produced pork will not do.! Free range ONLY

Free range will be more fatty; right. Some cooks say to roast the pork up side down in a a small amount of water. Once the water is evapoorated, turn the pork upside and the fat will have melted and will make the skin crispy.

Hmmm.

I myself take a good piece of free range pork; score the fat deeply, and sprinkle with good sea salt; and your chosen fat. And roast away. YUM YUM!

Sometimes, towards the end of cooking, you can separate the crispy crackling from the meat and roast it separately for 10 - 15 minutes and then it will be extra extra crispy. Yum Yum yum!! Don't forget to drink plenty of cider when making this dish; and put some in the gravy!!!

Answer 2

The best was is score the skin of the pork with a sharp knife (any butcher will do this for you and in most supermarkets it is already done) pour a small quantity of oil on the skin, then sprinkle on some salt and rub this it. It is messy but worth it. Then put the pork into a hot oven for say 30 mins, this help get the crackling on it's way and also seals the pork so that when you reduce the cooking time the juices keep within the joint. It is better to do it this way that hot oven first and then reduct temperature.

You will find that when the joint is finished cooking you will have perfect crackling and a lovely meat.

Answer 3

Perfect Roast Pork Crackling


4-6 servings 4¼ hours 15 min prep
Change to:
(50 minutes per kilo-gram at 190' Celsius)
1 teaspoon dried fennel seeds
sea salt
black pepper
olive oil
boiling water

Score pork skin, best to have your butcher do this.
Place pork in colander and pour boiling water over to open the skin. Dry thoroughly and then place in fridge for 1-2 hours.
Remove from fridge and rub with salt -- Then mix ground fennel seeds with olive oil and rub all over pork and into slits.
The flavour is magnificent.use your own judgement on cooking times as general help around 50 minutes per kilo-gram in moderate to hot oven.

Works the same without the fennel but it makes a nice change.

Answer 4

Boil a kettle of water and pour over the scored crackling then rub in salt before putting in the oven - this dries out the skin and you will see the crackling opens up when the boiling water hits it and the salt can get into the cuts

Answer 5

This is the only way to make teue crackling on your pork roast it took me years to perfect this


pork leg (50 minutes per kilogram at 190degrees celcius)
1 teaspoon dried fennel seeds
sea salt
black pepper
olive oil
boiling water

Score pork skin, best to have your butcher do this.
Place pork in colander and pour boiling water over to open the skin. Dry thoroughly and then place in fridge for 1-2 hours.
Remove from fridge and rub with salt -- Then mix ground fennel seeds with olive oil and rub all over pork and into slits.
The flavour is magnificent.use your own judgement on cooking times as general help around 50 minutes per kilogram in moderate to hot oven.

Answer 6

Found this at epicurious.com.....good luck

PORK CRACKLINGS
If you're making this entire menu in a single oven, you will have to make the cracklings ahead (see cooks' note, below) and reheat them in the upper third of oven during the last 10 minutes of roasting the Roasted Potatoes with Lemon Salt. Cracklings are commonplace in Britain, and we hope these crisp bits gain more popularity here, too.
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 (2-lb) piece pork fatback with skin, fat trimmed to 1/3 inch thick
3/4 cup water
Special equipment: an electric coffee/spice grinder




Pulse kosher salt and fennel in grinder until fennel is coarsely ground. Arrange fatback, skin side up, on a work surface with longest side nearest you. Score pork skin (1/4 inch deep) crosswise with a sharp knife at 1/3-inch intervals (do not cut through to fat). Pat skin completely dry with paper towels, then rub fennel salt into skin. Let stand, loosely covered, at room temperature 1 hour.
Put oven rack in bottom third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Pat skin completely dry with paper towels again, then cut skin into strips using scored cuts as a guide. Arrange strips close together in a large shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) and slowly pour water into pan (not over skin). Roast, stirring twice (use caution, as fat may splatter), until strips are golden, blistered, and crisp, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, then discard fat remaining in pan.

Cooks' note:
Cracklings can be made 6 hours ahead and cooled, uncovered, then kept, covered, at room temperature. Reheat in upper third of a preheated 425°F oven until hot, about 10 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.
Gourmet
Menus
March 2005

Answer 7

First, you can't get cracklins from lean roast and such. Cracklins are made out of hog fat. Take the fat of a hog, fat back or trim all the fat off fatty bacon, cut it into 3/4 inch squares, put it in a crock pot or large boiler. Start out slowly with the heat and as the grease begins to leave the fat, increase the heat. Eventually, the grease (lard) will be cooked out of the fat leaving semi-dry cracklins. Put them in a strainer and let the rest of the grease drain off. Best bet is to go to a store and buy a bag of cracklins. Pops

Answer 8

I have watched my Com padre make them and he sets the skins out salted then stokes the fires and heats up the oil. When it is hot and ready he cuts the skins up. Adding them to the hot oil frying until they float to the top, scooping them into a paper lined platter. It really is hard to tell when they are done cooking and tend to burn if not watched closely. I have also made them in the oven and they turned out good.

Answer 9

Score the skin, rub in some salt and cover in some fat or oil before cooking. Also raise the temperature towards the end of the cooking time.

Answer 10

Make sure it is well scored, spray with cold water and rub on plenty of salt , cook on high heat for the last 15 mins.