The Forklorist The history and stories behind what we eat.
Recipe · mains

Roast Pork with Crispy Crackling

The best way to enjoy pork: fork-tender meat and earth-shattering crunch.

Prep
15 min
Cook
6 hr
Total
6 hr 15 min

A beautifully golden-hatted leg of pork served with a selection of sauces. The pork itself is seasoned simply, so it can be combined with any manner of flavours.

Roast leg of pork with a thick, golden, puffed crackling on a wooden board

Ingredients

  • 3 kg leg of pork (I used a deboned one, which was 2.5 kg)
  • About a tablespoon of fine sea salt
  • About a tablespoon, and a pinch more, of freshly ground black pepper
  • ⅓ tablespoon of a flavourless high-heat cooking oil: vegetable, peanut or canola
The roast from another angle, dark puffed crackling beside the meat on the board

Method

  1. This is a slow-cooked leg, so set some time aside for it on the day you want to eat it. The slow cooking gives you tender meat, and then a burst of high heat at the end gives you the crackling.
  2. The crackling depends on the moisture in the skin flashing to steam in a burst of high heat.
  3. Dry the pork thoroughly, so there’s no surface moisture.
  4. Score the fat lightly. I didn’t go too deep, because I wanted this puffed type of crackling. If you score deeply, you will get crispy strips.
  5. Rub all over with the salt and the pepper, especially salting the skin.
  6. Set the oven to 125°C.
  7. Place the pork on the middle shelf, on a rack, with a tray underneath for the drippings.
  8. Cook for about 5 hours, checking every hour and turning the leg around every couple of hours.
  9. You should check for doneness regularly. The safe internal temperature is about 70°C, and checking regularly ensures it does not dry out.
  10. At about the 5 hour mark, pull it out, tent it in foil and let it rest. You will cook it for another 25 minutes or so to get the crackling going.
  11. An hour before you are ready to eat, crank your oven up to 250°C.
  12. Rub some oil over the crackling. Use an oil that can take a high temperature: I don’t recommend olive oil, but peanut, canola or vegetable are all good.
  13. Put the leg back in and let the crackling form, checking every 10 minutes. You can cover the meat with foil, leaving only the crackling exposed, to stop the meat drying out or charring (charred bits are good though, IMHO).
  14. Pull it out once you are satisfied, and let it rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

To serve

I served this with fresh nuoc cham, a chimichurri, a Korean barbecue sauce and a basil and chilli sambal. We made lettuce wraps with spring onions, capsicum, green chillies and more. But you could also make a pan gravy or a similar sauce to enjoy it with.

Lettuce, spring onions and peppers for wraps, ringed by bowls of dipping sauces

Eat in good health!

mains