A Glug of Oil

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Roast Pork with Crackling

How to Cook Pork with Crispy Crackling

This a simple but very effective recipe to make pork crackle really crispy. 

Read on to learn how to cook pork loin and the recommended cooking time.

Roast pork loin with crispy crackling.
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These days, so many supermarkets sell pork joints without the skin - Why? I've no idea, you need the skin to achieve lovely pork crackling.

Pork can be quite dry if cooked wrongly and the nice bit of fat with the skin is, in my opinion, needed to keep the pork succulent.

But perfect crispy crackling is so very easy to do. Oh, and don't forget crispy roast potatoes are an essential part of any good Sunday roast!

Why is my crackling, not crispy?

Follow this and you'll get perfect results every time. The vegetables act as a trivet and they don't all need to go to waste - you can make a nice gravy with them. You will need a baking dish just a bit larger than the joint.

How to cook pork with crispy crackling

Throw in some vegetables such as carrots and onions to bring the joint up higher in the pan. Don't lay the pork skin side down or it will never ever go crispy.

Remove all packaging (if any) from the pork joint but leave the string on.

Now, using a very sharp knife; I find a Stanley knife is perfect since pork skin is very hard to score otherwise, and so I keep one just for food. 😉

Score the skin in even spaces of about 8mm apart.

Pork loin ready for the oven.

Dry the skin with kitchen paper and rub the skin of the joint with a little sea salt and a little black pepper if you wish.

Leave the joint to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking - this is necessary or you'll mess up the cooking times. Your oven must be preheated first.

Pork needs to be cooked at a medium heat 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 for the first half of cooking.

Then increase the temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6 for the second half of cooking (this helps crisp up the crackling).

Cook for 30 minutes per 500g plus an extra 30 minutes

You really should have a Thermapen food thermometer to be sure your meat is cooked through.

If you haven't got one you must be buying one today!

There are two varieties available - one you insert in the thickest part of the raw joint and leave it in inserted in the joint, cook until the desired internal temperature is reached.

The kind that I prefer is the digital kind that's inserted into the cooked joint after roasting.

Recommended temperatures for cooking pork

Medium 70C (it must maintain this temperature for two minutes)

If you really must have your pork well done then you need it to reach 80C (it must maintain this temperature for 30 seconds)

Remember to always take the temperature from the centre of the meat.

Roast pork with crackling.


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roast pork with crackling, pork with crispy crackling, how long to cook pork loin, roast pork and crackling,
Pork, Sunday, Main, Dinner
English
Yield: N/A
Author: Jan Bennett
Roast Pork with Crackling

Roast Pork with Crackling

Cooking time is approx. since it will depend on the size of your pork joint.
Cook time: 1 H & 20 MInactive time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 H & 50 M

Ingredients

  • Pork joint with the skin on otherwise you won't get crackling.

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4
  1. You need a baking dish just a bit larger than the joint.
  2. Throw in some vegetables such as carrots and onions to bring the joint up higher in the pan. Don't lay the pork skin side down or it will never go crispy.
  3. Remove all packaging (if any) from the pork joint but leave the string on. Using a very sharp knife, score the skin in even spaces of about 8mm apart.
  4. Dry the skin with kitchen paper and rub the skin of the joint with a little sea salt.
  5. Now leave the joint to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking - this is necessary or you'll mess up the cooking times.
Your oven must be preheated first
  1. Pork needs to be cooked at a medium heat 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 for the first half of cooking.
  2. Then increase the temperature to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 for the second half of cooking (this helps crisp up the crackling).
  3. Cook for 30 minutes per 500g plus an extra 30 minutes.
  4. You really should have a meat thermometer to be sure your meat is cooked through. If you haven't got one you must be buying one today!
  5. There are two varieties available - one you insert in the thickest part of the raw joint and cook until the desired internal temperature is reached.
  6. The kind that I prefer is the digital kind that is inserted into the cooked joint after roasting.
  7. Recommended temperatures for cooking pork are:
  8. Medium 70C (it must maintain this temperature for two minutes)
  9. If you really must have your pork well done then you want it to reach 80C (it must maintain this temperature for 30 seconds)
  10. *Remember to take always the temperature from the centre of the meat.
  11. Also, remember to rest your pork before carving. You can remove the crackling and keep warm or put it back into the oven to reheat.
  12. Wrap the pork in foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before carving.
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6 comments

  1. Now that really does look like perfect crackling! I find it can be a hit or a miss - sometimes I have beautiful crackling and other times it's rubbery and disappointing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ooo I love at bit of crackling!! great tips Jan

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope those that eat at your table realize what an honour it is!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some people leave it unwrapped in the fridge for a couple of hours to dry out the skin - helps the crackling crackle.

    @Nicola - depends sometimes on what else you've got in the oven. If you've got a full oven - roast pots/ veg etc creates too much steam - no good for crackling. All is not lost though. If it hasn't crisped up you can trim off the crackling while the pork is resting, snip it up (the crackling), put it on a baking tray and put under the grill to crisp up, or the real kitchen cowboy trick - flash it in the microwave for a few seconds and watch it crackle like popcorn.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from everyone so thanks for taking the time to comment. Please note comments containing links will NOT be published.

Cheers
Jan