Roast Pork with Crackling
A classic roast pork loin with perfectly crisp crackling, achieved by thoroughly drying and scoring the skin before a two-stage hot-low-hot roast.
Ingredients
- 2kg rolled pork loin joint, skin on, with plenty of fat underneath
- 2 onions, sliced
- Salt
- 2 tbsp pork dripping or goose fat
- Gravy, to serve (made to your own family recipe)
- Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, green vegetables and apple sauce, to serve
Instructions
- The day before you plan to eat, dry the pork skin thoroughly with kitchen paper. Even if your butcher has already scored it, use a sharp craft knife on the cold skin to add your own fine, regular scoring lines, about half a centimetre apart.
- Rub salt into the scored skin, then use a hairdryer on the skin until it’s completely bone dry.
- Wrap the joint in a tea towel and refrigerate overnight so any remaining moisture can evaporate.
- On the day of cooking, rub more salt into the skin, working it into the scored cracks and the fat.
- Put a bed of sliced onions in the bottom of a metal roasting tin and rest the pork on top.
- Heat the pork dripping or goose fat in a small saucepan over a high heat until searing hot, then carefully pour it over the skin.
- Roast at 220°C (200°C fan, gas mark 7) for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4) and cook for a further 2 hours, basting every 20 minutes.
- Turn the heat back up to 220°C for a final 15 minutes to puff up and crackle the skin, leaving it a few minutes longer if needed.
- Rest the joint for 10 minutes in a warm place while you make the gravy to your own family recipe.
- Remove the crackling, carve the meat, and divide the crackling between the plates. Serve with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, green vegetables and apple sauce.