The high priestess to the Perfection of Roast Pork Crackling
In the interest of saving money we are shopping at the local Asian supermarket- 99 Ranch in El Cerrito. It gets crowded there during the weekends and parking is fraught with danger (both unintentional bad driving plus tempers frayed over disputed territory). Still for the variety, and some of the best deals in town on Asian groceries, this is a surefire destination. Crowded aisles aside, the other advantage is the type/cuts of meats readily available at rock bottom prices. Here it is assumed that you want the gnarly bits like ears, tongue, tripe, feet, knuckles etc that make one's meals more interesting... When I saw the knuckles and shanks in the pork section, I was inspired to attempt my own version of roasted pork crackling in an homage to the RoliRoti knuckle I devoured at the SF Ferry Building Farmers market the other day.
The criteria were as follows- juicy and succulent meat, all connective tissue rendered into delicate filaments and surrounded by a layer of crunchy crackling with only a thin layer of fat to remind you of the happy pig. The meat should be flavorful and tender, loosely connected to the bone yet hold enough for slicing and chew to be satisfying (ie not pull apart pork).
Traditionally most recipes cook at 475oF/240oC to start and then finished at 375oF/190oC in around 2 hours (allowing about 35 minutes per pound/50 minutes per kg). Others were frustratingly vague "cook it at a moderate heat, loooooong and sloooooooow!" Still more required boiling water poured over to open the skin (Chinese roast duck is prepped this way), a few wanted oil rubbed into the skin, or both. This seemed a little fiddly to me (I mean pigs already have enough fat! Why add more?) and who wants to mess with vats of boiling water (I'd be sure to pour it on myself!). I'd also experienced some of those cardboard roasts and I knew I wanted a surefire recipe to a more succulent and tender meat. I turned again to online resources and found some BBQ sites devoted to getting the meat tender without losing flavor, they also agreed with long and slow. One common recommendation- wrapping the meat in foil to get the connective tissue to cook out. The suggested cooking temps ranged from 185-275 for 6-12 hours. I also found a site for Chinese style roast pork which included basting with lime/lemon juice or vinegar. Hmmm what does the acid do?
My first attempt was with the the knuckle sections which RoliRoti used (however mine were dressed for a long braise with deep slices all the way thru the meat and bone which may have affected the result). I salted the meat, rubbed some minced garlic and pepper all over, encased it in foil as instructed and cooked them at 275oF for about 3 hours. When I peeled back the foil, the pale grey meat was sitting in a generous pool of liquid- almost a good cup of stock & fat (which I saved). The connective tissue was limp, the meat juicy (if somewhat bland) and the skin limp and gelatinous. I parked the meat on a rack and tried raising the temp of the oven to 425oF to crisp the skin, but it became a hard shellacked layer akin to football leather with none of the requisite snap and was pronounced a failure :'^( More salt redeemed the meat, and I then removed the skin and popped it into toaster oven where it gained a little lift but was still densely chewy.
The tragedy of it all aside, many questions were raised that hinted towards an improvement in the methodology. What went wrong? The trapped steam produced from the meat had obviously affected the skin's ability to crisp. (How is that different from pouring boiling water over the skin? Maybe the length of time or the degree of saturation?) The fat rendered and the meat was the right texture, could I save the flavour? Maybe the sectional cuts prevented the meat from trapping the juices, allowing flavor to escape. The garlic was good but a little one dimensional. How could I get the salt inside the roast without turning it into a salt lick?
What can I say, it's not an easy thing to get both the meat and the crackling perfect. All hubris aside and future experiments still pending- I HAVE found the secret to the ethereal crunch of truly great crackling encasing moist and tender savory goodness.
Supplicants may apply for enlightenment:
On my second attempt I started with a section of shank from just below the shoulder (intact ie NOT cut for braising), scored the rind down thru the layer of fat almost to the meat; rubbed it all over with a mixture of ground spices and salt. I let the meat sit overnite (uncovered in the fridge), then allowed it to come to room temp. I pressed a few cloves into several corners of the scoring and lightly salted the 2 ends again before laying the meat side down on a lattice of rosemary. I pre-heated the oven to 475oF and cooked it for 30 minutes. Then I rotated the pan 180o and dropped the temp to 250oF and cooked it for another 2 1/2 hours, checking every so often and rotating the pan (@ 2 hours total cooking time the juices were still pooling red and the meat around the bone pink). At 3 hours the meat was starting to pull away from the bone, and the fat was rendering but the crackling was not puffing. I raised the temp back to 475oF and continued to cook for another 20 minutes (keep an eye out here you don't want it to burn). After which I removed the roast from the oven and allowed it to rest for an agonizing 20 minutes before carving. First batch was served in chunks with crackling attached. The meat was heavenly, and spices lifted the flavors to transcendental, the skin crispy, shattering with lightest pressure. YUM! Second batch was sliced thinly with crackling served on the side. Delicious. Of course at that point I was too busy eating to take more pics, so you have my apologies for the lack of photo documentation. I am content but not resting on my laurels. I will report other experiments as they progress.