Pork Cracklin

[Norman Walsh]

I would like views on the best cooking methods to obtain crispy pork cracknel.

I have tried various methods such as rubbing over with oil then grinding salt over, or cooking covered then blasting the heat up for the last 20 minutes.

Sometimes they work and other times do not.

Maybe its related to the thickness of fat under the skin or the quality of the pork.

I watched Rick Stein doing this on TV last night and if I am not mistaken he just dried the joint then put in the oven on maximum heat for 20minutes then a further hour at slightly reduced eat.

In my opinion at the temperatures he quoted it probably wouild be crispy, but it would also be black.

All comments on this welcome.

Norman

[Bueno]

Just to quickly interject; I've never heard of "cracknel", did you mean pork "cracklin' / crackling" or is "cracknel" an actual term used to describe it?

[Norman Walsh]

Just to quickly interject; I've never heard of "cracknel", did you mean pork "cracklin' / crackling" or is "cracknel" an actual term used to describe it?

←

Yea cracklin, sorry about the spelling.

Or hows about pork skin.

Norman

[Domestic Goddess]

Filipinos always boil/tenderize the skin before crisping it in the oven or pan. To actually make cracklins or chicharon (or chicharonnes), you take a length of piggy skin, boil in salt, pepper and bay leaf until fork-tender, cook in low heat in the oven (125 degrees celsius) for about 2-3 hours and then cut into pieces before deep-frying in oil/lard. The resulting crispy chicharon is to die for (literally and figuratively).

Note: cooking in the skin in the oven will render wonderful white lard perfect for pie crusts and such.

[Prawncrackers]

Hmmm, don't know why there’s such a slow response to your question Norman. Maybe it's the thick Geordie accent that you write in? Or maybe it's been discussed to death before; i'm fairly new to the forum so that might be the case. If it is then forgive my indulgence....

There must be loads of ways to make crackling: boiling water to tighten skin, coarse salt, fine salt, spirits to draw the moisture out - all before you even put the swine in the oven! In fact there must be as many methods as there are types of crackling – big fat deep-fried ones, thin refined ones, nuggetty pork scratchings you get down the pub etc… at least one type for every cuisine that uses pig. The only requirement is that it has to be, just has to be krispy!

So before I continue, what joint of pork are you roasting and what type of crackling are you looking for? I only really ever roast pork belly so can happily give you some tips on how to get a really crisp thin light crackling like you get with Chinese style roast belly pork. I’d like to add at this point that removal of the skin from the joint to roast separately is definitely cheating in my book.

You cook your pork normally at one temperature but just remember these two techniques, scoring & charring:

Scoring - the skin has to be cross-scored very finely with a sharp blade or alternatively you can buy a ‘pork stamper’ from a Chinese supermarket. This looks like a torture instrument - it’s a 2-3” diameter circular wooden stamp with sharp nails embedded into. You stamp the pork all over and the nails puncture the skin – thus the fat is released during cooking like you would if you’d scored it. The big advantage with stamping over scoring is you get a very even finish. I recommend all pork lovers to get one!! Season the skin as you would normally and throw it in the oven to cook.

Charring – this is the more important technique. When the meat is cooked to your liking i.e. still moist and juicy, the skin will never be crisp enough. To finish put your joint under a hot grill and let the skin bubble and slightly char all over. If you have a flat piece of belly this is straightforward. If you’ve rolled it then you will have to keep an eye on it and turn it. Be careful not to blacken it, there is a fine line between edible and burnt skin. The smell of burnt skin is not good either. When it’s lightly charred all over, remove from heat and let it cool a little. Crackling always gets crispier when it cools. The final step is to get a sharp knife and lightly scrape away the top layer of charring to leave you with a thin light crispy layer of crackling.

If you’ve used a stamper then there are no visible score marks and the visual effect is that of one uniform piece of crackling all over, YUM!!

[Norman Walsh]

Hmmm, don't know why there’s such a slow response to your question Norman.  Maybe it's the thick Geordie accent that you write in?    Or maybe it's been discussed to death before; i'm fairly new to the forum so that might be the case.  If it is then forgive my indulgence....

Thick Geordie accent! we are very refined up here in Newcastle.

Actually belly pork is one of my favourites I think it’s the best tasting joint on the pig.

I dry cure quite a lot for bacon.

I am a regular visitor to the Chinese supermarkets in Newcastle and cannot remember ever seeing the pork stamper torture implement. I will have to make inquiries on my next visit. If I cannot find any I will just have to hammer some nails into a piece of wood.

It might be handy to carry when I am staggering home from the club on a Saturday night after my session on Newcastle Brown.

Norman