James Martin Pork With Crackling Recipes

6-HOUR SLOW-ROASTED PORK SHOULDER

Steps:

• Remove the pork from the fridge for 1 hour before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
• Place the pork on a clean work surface, skin-side up. Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores about 1cm apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that you cut into the meat. If the joint is tied, try not to cut through the string.
• Rub sea salt right into all the scores you've just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you need to. Brush any excess salt off the surface then turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a few pinches of salt and black pepper.
• Place the pork, skin-side up, in a roasting tray and roast for 30 minutes, or until the skin has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling. At this point, turn the heat down to 170°C/325°F/gas 3, cover the pork snugly with a double layer of tin foil, pop back in the oven and roast for a further 4½ hours.
• Meanwhile, halve the onions, carrots and celery, and break the garlic up into cloves (there's no need to peel them).
• Remove the pork from the oven, take off the foil, and baste the meat with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully transfer to a board, then skim all but 2 tablespoons of excess fat from the tray into a jar, and pop in the fridge for tasty cooking another day.
• Add all the veg, garlic and bay leaves to the tray and stir them into the fat. Place the pork back on top of everything and place back in the oven without the foil to roast for 1 further hour, or until meltingly soft and tender.
• Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover again with tin foil and leave to rest while you make the gravy. Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the stock (or replace with water, if you prefer) and place the tray on the hob.
• Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits from the bottom of the tray.
• When you've got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into jug using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve. Season to taste, if needed.
• Serve the pork and crackling with the jug of gravy and all the trimmings - a dollop of apple sauce will finish this off perfectly.

PORK ROAST WITH CRISPY PORK CRACKLING

Steps:

• Dry skin: Pat the skin dry with paper towels. If time permits, leave in the fridge uncovered overnight (even 1 hr helps). If not, pat extra well.
• Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
• Season flesh: Sprinkle pork flesh with 1 1/2 tsp salt, all the pepper and all fennel seeds and 1 tbsp olive oil. Rub into flesh, right into all the crevices and cracks.
• Salt skin: Flip pork, drizzle skin with 1 tsp oil, then rub all over with fingers. Sprinkle all over with remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt, taking care to get even coverage. Un-salted patches will not become bubbly crackling, it will be a hard flat sheet.
• Garlic & onion bed: Place halved garlic bulbs and onion in roasting pan. Place pork skin side up on top of them.
• Wine: Carefully pour wine into the pan, being sure not to wet the skin. Transfer to oven.
• Lower oven: Immediately turn oven down to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan).
• Slow roast: Roast for 2 1/2 hours.
• Level at 1 1/2 hours: Check pork after 1 1/2 hours to see if the pork is warped and the skin's overall surface is significantly unlevelled. If so, adjust to make the skin surface as level as possible using balls of foil and moving large dislodged pork pieces to the side (key tip for crispy crackling, Note 3). Then return to oven for the remaining 1 hour.
• Check pan & salt on skin: If pan is drying out, add some water. If there are bald patches on the skin without salt (eg it fell off), spray lightly with oil spray (or brush lightly with oil) then sprinkle with salt. (Remember, salt = bubbly skin!)
• Increase heat: Turn oven up to 250°C/485°F (all oven types), or as high as it will go if your oven won't go this high.
• Make skin crisp: Return pork to oven for 30 minutes, rotating pan as needed, until skin is crisp and bubbly all over. If needed, use foil patches, secured with water soaked toothpicks, to cover parts that are done and keep crisping up remaining patches.
• Rest: Transfer pork to serving platter, tent loosely with foil (don't worry, crackling stays super-crisp) and rest for 20 minutes (stays warm up to 1 hour). Then slice using a serrated knife.
• Serve with gravy. Don't pour gravy over crackling - pour it off to the side! See note for reheating.

ITALIAN-STYLE ROAST PORK WITH CRISPY CRACKLING

Steps:

• Pound the garlic, bay, pepper, 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tbsp of the fennel seeds using a pestle and mortar, then stir in 1 tbsp oil. Place the pork, skin-side up, in a clean sink and pour over a kettleful of boiling water (this tightens the skin - the first step towards great crackling). Drain, pat dry and place, skin-side down, on a chopping board. Rub the garlicky paste all over it, then roll up the loin and tie it at intervals with kitchen string. Arrange the onion and lemon in the centre of a roasting tin and sit the pork on top, skin-side up. Rub the rind with the remaining salt and leave at room temperature, uncovered, for 1 hr.
• Heat oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Rub the skin of the pork with the remaining oil. Lightly crush the remaining fennel seeds and scatter over the meat. Roast for 30 mins, then turn the heat down to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and continue to roast for 1 hr 20 mins. Remove the pork, cover loosely and leave to rest for 30 mins. If your crackling isn't crisp, pop the joint under a hot grill for a few mins, but watch it as it will burn very easily.
• Meanwhile, make the gravy. Tip away all but 1 tbsp of fat from the tin and put on the hob. Add the flour and mix with the onion and lemon, scraping any bits from the bottom. Pour in the Marsala and let it bubble, then gradually add the stock and any of the resting juices, and simmer gently for 8-10 mins. Season, if needed, and strain through a sieve before serving.

HAIRY BIKERS: ROAST PORK WITH THE BEST CRACKLING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220°C. Make sure the pork skin has been scored. If not, score it now, making sure you cut through the skin to the fat below.
• Pat the skin dry, then rub it with the oil and sprinkle with salt. Put the onions, thyme and star anise in a large roasting tin with the pork on top.
• Calculate the cooking time - you need to roast the meat for 30 minutes per 500g. So if you have a joint that weighs 1.5kg, the cooking time should be an hour and a half. Check for doneness after this time - the crackling should be blistered, crisp and brown and the meat should be cooked until the juices run clear.
• Meanwhile, make the apple sauce. Put the apples in a pan and add the cider or water, half the sugar and the butter. Cover and cook over a low heat until the apples have broken down into a thick purée. Whisk thoroughly to make sure everything is well combined, then taste and add more sugar if you think the sauce needs it. Spoon the sauce into a serving dish and set it aside.
• Remove the pork from the oven. Take off the crackling and break it into strips. Transfer the pork to a warm serving dish and cover it with foil. If the crackling isn't crisp enough, put it back in the oven in a smaller tin while the meat rests.
• Strain off the contents of the roasting tin, including most of the fat, and reserve. Discard the onion or add it to the resting pork. Set the roasting tin over a medium heat and sprinkle over the flour. Stir vigorously until the flour has picked up any sticky bits from the base of the tin. Pour in the cider and stir until you have a thick paste. Gradually add the stock and continue to stir until you have a gravy. Pour into a small saucepan - the base of the roasting tin should be clean.
• Bring the gravy to the boil and check the seasoning. Add in any strained meat juices reserved from the roasting tin and the resting pork. Serve the pork cut into thick slices, with the crackling, gravy and apple sauce.

PERFECT ROAST PORK AND CRACKLING.

Steps:

• Thorougly defrost the joint the day before cooking. You can use a supermarket joint, which contrary to some opinions, works just perfectly. Make sure you unwrap it to defrost it, to discourage it from becoming too moist.
• If the skin has not been scored, do so with a sharp Stanley Knife in long strokes about 1cm or less apart all over the skin.
• Pour boiling water from a kettle all over the joint as it sits skin side up. This will cause the skin to contract and go pale. Once done, dry immediately with kitchen paper.
• Rub salt into the skin thoroughly, then wrap in a clean dry tea towell and put into the fridge overnight.
• In the morning, unwrap the meat (remember to put the tea towell directly into the wash) and rub the skin with a small amount of butter all over.
• Put the joint into a low oven at 160 deg C for 3 hours. I find this just right for a larger joint of around 2kg, however if you want to check if your meat is ready with a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should be 60-70 deg C.
• Take the joint out to rest, and immediately separate the crackling from the meat in one piece and put it onto a small baking tray. Tap the crackling with a fork, if it sounds like its not entirely crisp (and it usually isn't at this stage) pop the tray back into the oven and turn the temperature up to 200-220 deg C for 10-20 minutes until crisp.
• Use a sharp knife to cut the crackling into strips for serving. Lovely served as a traditional English roast with roast potatoes, baked apple wedges and vegetables.