Pork Crackling Recipes

Steps:

• Combine brown sugar, chili powder, salt, allspice, fennel seed and pepper in a bowl.
• Score pork belly all over with a sharp knife, making a crisscross of lines 1/2 inch apart. (Do not cut past fat.)
• Carefully work the rub into both skin and meat sides and allow to cure 8 hours or up to 2 days in the fridge.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cut pork belly into 3 equal pieces and place in a hotel pan or roasting tray. Cover with Veal Stock and add red wine, celery, carrot and onion. Cover with foil and bake until a knife inserts easily, about 3 1/2 hours. Allow pork belly to sit in the stock for 30 minutes to reabsorb juices. Remove to a clean tray with two metal spatulas. Cool to 70 degrees within 2 hours and 40 degrees within 4 hours.
• Bring oil to 350 degrees F in a deep-fryer. Cut pork into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes. Fry until crispy, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Toss in Star Anise Red Wine Reduction, then season with salt and pepper. Serve with extra Star Anise Red Wine Reduction on the side.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Combine bones, celery, carrots, onions and tomato paste in a roasting tray and roast, stirring twice to ensure aromatic vegetables and bones, until dark brown in color, about 1 hour.
• Transfer bones and vegetables to a very large stockpot. Place roasting tray on stove top over medium-high heat, add red wine to the tray and cook, scraping drippings from the bottom until completely dislodged. Pour the contents into the stockpot and cover with 20 quarts cold water.
• Place stockpot over low heat, add bay leaves and peppercorns and simmer for 24 hours, skimming the top regularly to remove impurities.
• Strain stock through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Cool to 70 degrees within 2 hours and 40 degrees within 4 hours.
• Add brown sugar, vinegar, star anise, orange zest and juice, cinnamon sticks and 3 cups water to a medium saucepot over medium heat. Simmer sauce until reduced by a third to a half, for 2 to 3 hours.
• Cool and set aside.

Steps:

• Preferably in a spice grinder (but if you don't have one, in a pestle and mortar) grind 1 tsp of the fennel seeds with the peppercorns, star anise and salt as finely as you can then stir through the paprika and whole fennel seeds and set aside.
• Using a craft knife (also known as a tiling knife or a Stanley knife) and a ruler to cut against, carefully cut the pork skin into thin strips that are about 1cm wide. Tip the strips into a bowl or dish and coat well in the spice seasoning, tossing and rubbing the seasoning into the pork with your hands until it's all well coated. Cover and set the pork aside for at least an hour (or for up to 2 days in the fridge). The longer you leave it, the more the spices will permeate the pork.
• To cook, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and get two similar sized large, shallow, sturdy baking trays - Swiss roll trays are ideal. Line the base to one of the trays with parchment paper and lay the pork skin over as evenly as possible. Ideally, you don't want the strips to touch too much, but if there is a bit of contact that's fine. Lay another sheet of parchment paper over the skin and top with the 2nd tray, then place a heavy oven-proof dish like a casserole on top to weigh the top tray down.
• Place everything in the middle of the oven for 40 mins, then carefully remove. Lift off the top tray and layer of paper and, using a fish slice or tongs, turn the straws and separate any that are touching and starting to stick together, then carefully pour off any fat. Place the paper and the weighted tray back on top and continue to cook for another 20 mins. Check again - what you are looking for are uniformly blistered, rusty coloured, snapable strips of pork skin. If they need longer, place them back in the oven covered with the weighed tray for another 10 mins and continue until they get there. The time very much depends on the quality of the pork - very good quality pork will take half the time it takes lesser quality pork to crisp-up.
• When the straws are ready, drain them on kitchen paper then leave to cool. They will now keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Just before serving either sprinkle with a little more salt or dust them generously with icing sugar, or spilt them in two and do one to each half.

Steps:

• Score pork skin, best to have your butcher do this.
• Place pork in colander and pour boiling water over to open the skin. Dry thoroughly and then place in fridge for 1-2 hours.
• Remove from fridge and rub with salt -- Then mix ground fennel seeds with olive oil and rub all over pork and into slits.
• The flavour is magnificent. Use your own judgement on cooking times, but a general suggestion is around 50 minutes per kilogram in a moderate to hot oven.