Roast Pork with Crackling

Roast Pork with Crackling. I have tried this previously and come out with some very edible meat, but some tough leathery skin which could have been used as a stab vest. So this morning, after clearing the debris from last night's poker session, I take the meat from it's packaging in preparation of tonight, season the meat side and keep the skin side exposed to the air. My research reveals a myriad of different ways to achieve crackling, but the key principles appear to be:

• keep the skin as dry as possible;
• score the skin finely, cutting into the fat, but not so deep as to reach the meat;
• massage salt into every cut line (I also lightly apply pepper to season); and
• have a very hot oven somewhere in the cooking process for around 20 minutes.

So this evening, I do this, lay the meat on top of potatoes and parsnips, before putting a little water and cider vinegar in the dish before it goes into the hot oven (230 Celsius) for 20 minutes before reducing the heat to 160 Celsius for an hour. I watch a Classic Albums episode on The Joshua Tree to pass the time.

Just before going in the oven

 When I remove it from the oven, the skin doesn't quite crack brittlely when tapped like good crackling should, so with the vegetables removed, the meat goes back into the hot oven for another 20 minutes.

Resting

Once removed and sitting to rest on the kitchen worktop, I eye it suspiciously for a few minutes, in some places the pork juices trickling out and in others the fat still pops the occasional satisfying bubble. The sound when tapped is more like proper crackling and it certainly looks the part with a lovely brown hue.

On the chopping board

Indeed there is a perfect, near bone crunching sound, as my knife cracks the skin and slices through the meat slowly dripping it's juice onto the chopping board. I separate the brittle skin from the meat, before slicing each component and adding to a bowl of rice with the vegetables. The meat has a sweetness to it which complements the soft white rice and the saltiness and crunch of the crackling. Perfect.

Roast Pork with Crackling

With rice, potatoes and parsnips