Post by (Just) AllanPost by SheldonTo 'crackle' pork rind simply place the roast into a your oven at the
hottest setting (550ºF+), 15 minutes later lower the temperature to
it's normal setting and continue cooking. When the roast is done the
rind will be perfectly crackled. If the rind is crackled with a heat
gun prior to roasting it'll very likely be unevenly applied, and then
by the time the roast is fully cooked the rind will have burned...
don't need any stinkin' dangerous heat gun.
I know, I know... But we've followed those instructions for crackling
pork many times and it just never works. It never even come close to
working for that matter.
We were told it was because we weren't using fresh pork (because we
were thawing from the freezer) so we bought fresh. We were then told
it was the type of cut we were buying - so we changed to a more
expensive one. Then we were told we should buy fresh, dry the skin
with paper towel and "dry" it out in the fridge overnight before
cooking. We've done the light spray of oil and then salt. Done the
high heat and then back lower. We've even cut into the rind with a
razor blade and rubbed the salt in deep. We've also just sprinkled it
on the surface (onto the thin spray of oil). I then thought it might
be because we sometimes open the oven door - so we left it shut.
A butcher even told us if the oven wouldn't work, to buy just the rind
and put it under the grill - that there was no way we could mess that
up.
But nothing ever works - just boot leather every time! The rind comes
out thin, and rock hard. It never begins to "rise" away from the
pork.
We know people with a newish fan-forced oven and it works perfect for
them every single time - and they don't even think about what to do.
Just in the oven it goes and perfect out it comes.
Pork crackle? I'll give ya pork crackle... GIMME THAT HEAT GUN!!!
You're talking in generalities... *specifically* which pork cut(s) are
you using. I mostly roast ham and sometimes shoulder... usually never
frozen but often previously frozen as well. I've never ever
encountered an instance where the pork rind didn't crackle when cooked
using the simple method I described. The one thing you need to do
however is to make many diagonal slices through the rind and part way
into the subcutaneous fat, so that the entire rind is a pattern of
small pastilles (diamonds)... not just for presentation, but the slits
permit the fat to flow to the surface and bubble up over the rind in a
basting mode, which fries the rind as if in a deep fryer... also of
course makes it easy to pick off the sections of perfectly crackled
rind... while the roast rests I have to restrain myself from eating
until the entire roast is stripped bare. I honestly don't see how
searing pork rind with a heat gun would create the cracklings you want,
I think that intense concentrated blowtorch type heat will simply cause
the rind to burn... for good cracklings the rind needs long roasting
with medium low heat. Of course when you cook the rind on the roast
you will end up with succulent fat laden cracklings... if you want
those dry, *puffed*, feather light cracklings that are sold in bags
like potato chips that is a whole nother process that can't be done at
home... I don't much care for those.
Sheldon