[Modernist Cuisine] Puff the Skin on a Pork Roast (3-126; 6-93)

[Anonymous Modernist 2442]

I'm very much a beginner on my journey through MC, so be prepared for plenty of basic mistakes as I get started. I'm a big sucker for crackling. I'm not using it with a roast, but rather I intend to use the recipe to make crackling hors d'oeuvres for a party.

I'm trying out this recipe as I write this post, but thought it would be a good time to point out some of the things I've found a bit difficult (the dehydration step is taking a while in the oven!).

1. I pressure cooked the pork skin for an hour at 150kPa, but it seems to me like it came out a bit too soft. It was literally falling apart. I'm not sure if this is right or not, but it made it very difficult to remove all the fat from the skin. I'm not sure if this is because I neglected to use a trivet, or if I cooked it for too long.

2. Because of these issues removing the fat from the skin, when dehydrating the skin in the oven a lot of oil was produced. The skin then began to cook a bit in it. I'm not sure how long to leave it in there for, but the skin is starting to change colour and harden up a bit so hopefully it's coming along well.

Once it's finished dehydrating, I'm going to try deep frying it at 200 degrees until puffy, then serve it with salt.

[Judy Wilson]

So, how did it turn out in the end?

[Anonymous Modernist 2442]

Turned out great in the end! I don't think I've had better crackling.

I ended up frying it the next day as it got a bit late by the time I thought it had dehydrated enough. The shapes were a bit haphazard (it tended to curl up quite a bit, which I liked because it almost looked like little pig tails).

Next time I will probably not pressure cook for so long, or at least make sure to elevate it above the level of the water so that it doesn't become to soft and pliable when taking it out of the cooker.

The oven dehydration worked quite well, but I'm still not sure how long exactly to leave it in for. I think it ended up being 2-3 hours (should have written it down but by then it was 1230!)

[Anonymous Modernist 5186]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a few dramas with this recipe. It should be said that I'm using F50 methycellulose rather than the methocel K100m so I'm not sure if that's affecting the result.

The hydrated methylcellulose solution whips up to a stiff foam quite well but turns back to a liquid as soon as it hits the pork skin so what I'm left with is a dripping mess. It just doesn't seem stable enough to hold the skin before it's deep fried. The few small bits that are sticking hold well when they're deep fried but I can't get enough of it to stick.

Anyone else having dramas with the stability of this foam? Any possible solutions would be greatly appreciated.