Pork Cracklings Recipe (Pork Scratchings)

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Pork Scratchings Or Pork Cracklings Recipe

This could be a pork cracklings recipe or it could be a pork scratchings recipe depending on the part of the world that you live in. Homemade Pork Scratchings

Whatever the case these naughty crispies taste fantastic and can be served either as an aperitif or as a bit of extra crunch in your salad. I did mine in the Kamado ceramic barbecue, you can too or use a smoker or dare I say it, you can even do it in your oven. To get the perfect crisp without burning I found that running my Big Green Egg at about 150°C or 300°F was about bob on.

The first job is to bury your pork in sea salt for five days so don't go thinking that you can do this one for tonight's cookout. I usually start preparations the weekend before.

Serves:- Not many, it's too tasty!

Preparation Time:- 10 minutes
Marinade Time:- 6 days
Cooking Time:- 3 hours

Total Time:- 1 week

Ingredients:-

Pig skin (I used pork belly because it needs to have some fat attached)
Duck fat
Sea salt

Method:-

Get your shallow marinade bowl and cover with a layer of the sea salt. Now lay your pork skins on top, cover with more sea salt and then refrigerate for at least 5 days.

When the five days are up, rinse the skins under the faucet, discard the salt and soak your skins for a further day in water. Once this is complete, your ready for the off.

My Pork Scratchings Recipe Requires Duck Fat

Take an oven roasting tray, place your skins in it and then cover with duck fat. Pop this into the Egg / smoker / oven for 2½ hours at 150°C or 300°F until the skin looks golden brown.

Now here's the messy bit. Remove the skin and allow it to cool (do the same with the duck fat until it has solidified. Now paste some of the duck fat onto the pork skin (did I say that this pork cracklings recipe isn't the most healthy?) and you've reached steady state – you can keep it like this for in the refrigerator for a good while.

When you're ready to cook, get your smoker oven back up to 150°C or 300°F and place the skins (together with the fat) onto the food rack and cook directly for about 30 minutes checking occasionally to ensure that they don't char.

You should now have puffed up skin that is dry and brittle.

Roast off your homemade pork cracklings

Finally, chop up on a board with a heavy knife and enjoy your pork scratchings (or is that cracklings?) either just as they are or sprinkle then onto your salad.