Pork belly cracklings
Pork belly slow-cooked then high-heat blasted. The skin becomes a sheet of crisp crackling and the meat shreds with a fork. The single most satisfying carnivore dish.
- Variant
- strict
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 150 min
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 011 kg pork belly, skin on
- 02Salt, very generously
Method
Score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife. Cut through the skin and most of the fat layer but not into the meat. Score lines about 1 cm apart.
Salt the skin very heavily, working it into the scored cuts. Salt the underside as well. Let sit on the bench for 30 minutes, skin-side up. The salt draws out surface moisture, which is what allows the skin to crackle later.
Preheat the oven to 160C. Pat the skin completely dry again. Place the belly skin-side-up on a wire rack over a baking tray.
Roast at 160C for 90 minutes. This renders the fat slowly and cooks the meat through without burning the surface.
Crank the oven to 240C. Continue cooking for 25-35 minutes. The skin will bubble and crisp into a sheet of crackling. Watch the last 10 minutes — it goes from "almost there" to "burnt" quickly.
Rest for 10 minutes. Cut into squares through the crackling first (a serrated knife works well), then through the meat.
Save the rendered fat in the tray — it is lard, excellent for cooking other meals through the week.