Really good crackling...

[MrsWembley]

Help!

Haven't managed it for years! Have tried loads of different suggestions, recipes, temperatures and methods and not got a decent bit for far too long

But I'm about to cook a piece of pork from a pig reared by friends if ours and absolutely have to do it justice. What haven't I tried yet? Give me your ideas, please 🙏

When my DH does it he cooks it seperate to the meat at a really high temperature. It always comes out really well with a crunchy top and melt in the mouth underneath.

Oil it. Then cut it off after cooking and then put it back in the oven on a tray (top shelf) at gas mark 6 or 200°c for about 20 minutes

Get the pork out 2 hours before you cook it. Score the skin with a razor blade/Stanley knife in 1-2 cm wide scores.

Boil kettle, pour over pork. Pat completely dry with kitchen roll. Season very generously salt and leave the pork out of the fridge.

When it’s time to cook, put the oven up to 220°. Make sure the skin is absolutely dry - the salt will draw moisture out so give it another dry with kitchen roll. Pork in, turn heat down after 10 mins and cook at 180° until it’s done.

If that doesn’t work (it’s never failed me yet!) when it’s done, take the skin off and stick under the grill until it’s perfect.

Yes, do what Teddy says, you'll also find it much easier to achieve with well-reared pork, I stopped buying cheap supermarket pork years ago, I've never failed to get good crackling from a decent pig!

Soy sauce. No extra salt. Works every single time for me!

Tried doing it separately

Have read about the boiling method but not tried that yet. Does it not destroy the meat?

I just cut it off, cut the excess fat off ao ita not too thick, cut into small chunks snd put back in oven, no oil, until it is crispy, normally 20-30mins

I got some lovely belly pork from the butchers and asked him to score it thinly for me. He scored it with a Stanley knife about a cm each score.
I rubbed it with salt left it fridge overnight then wiped it off and patted it dry a lot open up the cuts etc. You can add a rub with herbs and garlic. I didn’t over oil it but a bit of olive oil went on and fresh salt.
Then hot oven for half an hour and low and slow for 3. Turned it up for last 20 mins or so it was perfect.
Some cuts have really thick rinds and they just don’t crackle as well. Even taking it off and doing it separately doesn’t work sometimes.

Well, I tried the boiling water method but maybe I didn't pour enough over it because, whilst I got better crackling than I have for a long time, it didn't come up all over. So we ate the bits that worked and I put the rest back in the oven. That sort of worked but I left it too long/had the oven too high as it went too powdery🙄

But thank-you all, things it was better and now I can work on it to perfect it in future 🙏

(... don't know where the random 'things' came from...)

I wonder if it’s your oven? I’ve never struggled to get good crackling and I don’t really faff.

Make sure the skin is scored (I always buy supermarket joints so it’s usually ready scored). I generously salt it and then put it well with kitchen roll.

I put the oven on 275 and roast it for about 20-30 mins and then turn it down to 140 for about four or five hours. It pretty much always comes out perfect.

I do roast pork at least twice a month and only very rarely have to put the crackling back in separately.

What magical device is this??

My oven only goes up to 230C...