I didn’t intend to write this post. I didn’t take any pictures of the preparation of this pork belly or any of the way we served it for dinner. But I hope carnivorous foodies everywhere will understand why I just had to do this post. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of nailing the perfect pork crackling. And that’s just what this was. Perfect.
It starts, of course, with a beautiful piece of meat. In this case, 1.3kg of pork belly from our organic butcher. If you’re after good crackling, you can’t get past the fact that the meat simply has to have a nice layer of fat under the skin. The skin needs to be scored (I get the butcher to do this for me) to allow the heat to get to the fat.
We’ve tried for years to get our crackling perfect, and I think the trick (other than the quality of the meat and the layer of fat) is to cook a whole piece of meat. Anything under a kilo just doesn’t get long enough in the oven for the magic to happen. To justify the expense of such a large piece of meat when we’re not having guests, we dedicate 2-3 meals to it. Night one is the Pork Belly, night two is usually wraps or burgers with slices of re-warmed pork and fresh salad ingredients, and if we manage to control ourselves to leave enough pork, night three is a fried rice with the last of the roast pork and a few prawns added.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
- 1 - 1.5kg piece of boned pork belly, heavily scored
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1-2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 100 ml water or apple cider
- Rinse the pork belly and pat it dry with paper towels, then leave it on the bench uncovered for an hour or so to dry out.
- Preheat the oven to 165C Bake.
- In a mortar and pestle grind up about 2 tbsp of fennel seeds with 1-2 tbsp sea salt into a powder, then rub this liberally all over the meat and skin. Drizzle with the oil.
- Wrap the meat loosely with foil, leaving the skin exposed. I roast my belly on a rack in a roasting pan - I find it gets a bit tough on the bottom if it sits directly on the pan.
- Pour the water or cider between the foil and the meat, taking care not to get any on the skin. This helps keep the pork tender.
- Roast the meat in the oven for 1¾ to 2 hours then increase the temperature to 200C for 20 minutes. Once the crackling looks mouthwatering, take it out and let the meat rest for 20 minutes.
The meat was so meltingly delicious, and the crackling really was perfect. Even my 3 year old tried to negotiate another piece! I served this with a cannellini bean puree, steamed beans, caramelised apple wedges and gravy. O M G.
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