Before you read this be aware that it is ridiculously easy to make a load of crackling from pig skin without even worrying about the joint itself – skin is only about £3 a kilo and available from all good butchers – check out this recipe if you want to see how…

To sum this article up briefly:

The next two paragraphs give you the basic rules for cooking crackly pork – follow them and you will not be disappointed.

Preparation: 1. Buy pork that’s not been frozen that has been reared outside. Remove from packaging and score well, the finer the better but every 5mm is good as you can then follow these lines when carving. Pour a kettle or two of boiling water over the fat to blister it. Dry well and leave uncovered in a fridge at least overnight. Remove the joint from the fridge 2 hours from cooking to bring the joint to room temperature.

Cooking: The method in the following recipe cooks the meat and adds flavour to it first. Not the very hot blast to start that you usually read. This way the prep is all done so that on the day you only need 20 minutes of scorching heat to finish off the pork/crackling ready for your guests. When cooking for the final stage, open the oven door occasionally and briefly to remove steam.

Read the rest of the article for a better explanation…

The above rules count for all pork joints that you want to crackle however the following recipe is based on pork belly.

The Full Article (based on pork belly)

When buying the pork belly think how many people you are feeding and imagine cutting it into square/rectangular portions. Make sure the portions look big enough for a roast meal. Free range, outdoor reared pigs are a must. The sun and rolling around helps to harden the skin up, which is conducive to good crackling.

Two days before serving

Remove from packaging as soon as you get the joint home to make sure the fat is not bathing in blood. Even though fat repels water, the water (blood) can get in inconsistent parts and also under and around the fat.

Score the joint with a super sharp knife or a Stanley the tighter the lines the more heat can get between the fat when cooking which helps. I like to slice at about 5mm apart in the same direction as you are later going to carve the meat, this makes carving a synch. This works particularly well for loin but for belly, criss cross patterns work better as you will be cutting rectangular chunks. Try not to cut down to the meat when scoring as this will allow blood to escape and reduce the heat at the fat.

Dry the joint with a tea towel first up and then pour a full kettle (or two) of boiling water over the joint, this blisters the meat and increases the surface area for the oven heat to penetrate. Dry it all over until bone dry and place the joint in the fridge uncovered overnight. The fridge has a very dry atmosphere. The fat will look much dryer when you come back to it.

The day before serving

In the morning, Slice up 2 bulbs of garlic down the middle creating four halves. Place them on a roasting tray. Add, on top of them, a few bits of fresh time. Take the meat and rub all over in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the meat, fat side up, on top of the garlic. Add a splash of white wine to the roasting tray – This is a la Gordon Ramsey

Cooking Stage 1

Cover with tin foil and cook in the oven on a medium heat (170c is good) for half (plus 20 minutes) of the cooking time. E.g. for a 2 kilo joint, 30 per 500g + 30 minutes is 150 minutes (this is the total time) so this first stage of cooking will be (150/2)+20 = 95 minutes. More cooking times based on joint size at the bottom of the page.

Cooking Stage 2

After the correct number of minutes, remove the foil, baste it with the fat that has collected, and continue cooking on the same temperature for the next amount of time (in this case 57 minutes).

Remove the meat and rest while pressing the joint to become flat, i.e. put another roasting tray on top of the meat in its current roasting tray and weigh it down.

Let it rest like this, in the fridge overnight.

This allows you to be ready to cook the meat on the day of the meal in no time at all. So even though this process seems arduous, its not actually that bad and on the day, you can spend more time socialising and relaxing rather than slaving away in the kitchen.

The meat shouldn’t be majorly crackled by now so don’t worry. However it should have a lovely smell, almost of duck confit (because of the oil, garlic, thyme and seasoning).

Gravy

Take the original roasting tray, together with its garlic contents, remove most of the fat, deglaze with some more white wine and add a pint of chicken stock. Reduce down to the desired consistency. You will probably have to add a teaspoon or two or corn flour to thicken, but make sure you mix the corn flour to a thin paste using some cold water before you add it to the roasting tray or it will clump. This should give you a rich, garlicky gravy. Strain the gravy ready for the next day.

The day of serving

Cooking Stage 3

Remove from fridge and cut the flattened joint into square/rectangular portions, one per person.

Season once again with salt, right into all the gaps. This helps to draw the water out of the fat in the final cooking.

Preheat the oven to 220c or more if you can (I use 240c). Make sure its definitely preheated before adding the roasting tray with the portions to the very top of the oven.

The 20 minutes you removed from the cooking time earlier you will now make up. So 20 minutes should be all you need to completely crackle the portions up perfectly. Every 5 minutes open the oven door to release the steam that is collecting in the top of the oven. Moisture, if you haven’t figured it out by now, is your enemy!

Resting

After the 20 minutes, rest the meat, but cover with a tea towel, NOT FOIL, or not the top at least. Due to the self basting of the meat from the fat above it and the portion sizes you don’t need much resting/relaxing time. Perhaps 5-10 minutes. This will give you time to finish off all the veg and get everything plated up.

Cooking Times

0.5k = (((60)/2)+15) = Stage 1  40mins, Stage 2 20mins. Stage 3 20 mins.
1.0k = (((90)/2)+20) = Stage 1  60mins, Stage 2 30mins. Stage 3 20 mins.
1.5k = (((120)/2)+30) = Stage 1 90mins, Stage 2 40mins.Stage 3 20 mins.
2.0k = (((150)/2)+30) = Stage 1 105mins, Stage 2 45mins.Stage 3 20 mins.
2.5k = (((180)/2)+30) = Stage 1 120mins, Stage 2 50mins.Stage 3 20 mins.
3.0k = (((210)/2)+30) = Stage 1 145mins, Stage 2 55mins.Stage 3 20 mins.

Don’t blame me when it goes wrong!

There are too many reference to list but Simon Hopkinson, Felicity Cloake and Gordon Ramsey are 3.