Snap, crackle and not so crisp
Christmas special with my mother and my mistakes
Welcome back.
So I know I said this would be a simple cooking experiment every week but since I am staying at my mother’s house at the moment, we’ve got a bit ambitious.
This was a team effort, so use a parent/real adult for this one. I just played follow the leader and introduced some mistakes to what would’ve otherwise been a tastier meal.
If you’re a vegetarian, I’d say skip till the end, but after carefully studying my subscriber base, I see only two vegetarians. In digital journalism of which I am a mediocre practitioner, we call this audience and engagement.
This week we made a Pork Roast with Crispy Crackling, which was pretty divine (even with my mistakes). If you know me, then you know I am a meathead, so this was right up my street.
We followed this super easy recipe from TinEats. Just the first hit on Google (why waste time with research). It’s a straightforward recipe, but it’s a slow cook, so this isn’t a weekday meal you’re putting together.
So what do we need? Honestly, I eyeballed the amounts here, but stayed true to the recipe without my usual improvisations. I have a picture below that might give you an idea about how much we used for one kilo of pork.
Fennel/Jeera – I’ve learnt this is a piggy’s super close friend when it comes to flavour.
Salt and pepper – Most of the salt goes on the skin. You need a LOT of salt on the skin. In fact, this where I made my big mistake, because you want it go bubbly and crispy.
One Efficient Parent/Real Adult - Two is too many. They are just a tool here. Please do not cook them.
Oil –The conductor to all good things. You will use this to mix the ingredients and for the pork skin.
Two heads of Garlic and three onions – The pork sits on top of these as it roasts. You need whole pieces and do not chop them up (yet).
Pork - I had little to do with this, but we got one kilo of pork with the skin on. Ideally pork shoulder and boneless. Butchers know what you need if you explain this to them
Chicken stock - One cub in hot water/One cup
Step 1
Rub your pork down with the jeera, salt, pepper and oil. I suggest mixing all in a bowl and then rubbing your pork piece, but do not rub the skin side, however really massage the meat here because it’s going to make all the difference.
I apologise for the state of these photographs. More so because at some point of time, I wasn’t a half-bad photographer.
Step 2
Rub salt and oil on the skin side of the piece. Be sure to really spread it well over here. I did not, so please do not make the same mistake. You need to do this to get the crispy effect.
Be sure to preheat your oven to about 180 degrees celsius while this is coming together.
Cut your onions and an entire head of garlic in half. They will make a bed that the meat will sit on.
Step 3
You’re all ready to go. Make sure the top of the piece is as flat as possible so the skin will cook evenly. We used small balls of foil to try and even out the bumps.
Pour your stock into the bowl, but make sure it doesn’t touch the meat. This will become our gravy later (optional). It’s almost like it’s a moat for your meat.
Step 4
Put it into the oven and let it cook slowly for about two and half hours. I suggest checking on it every 45 minutes or so.
After it looks done, then crank it up to about 250 degrees celsius. This is to get the crackling going. Do it with the broiler if you have the option. My skin wasn’t as salted and oiled as it should be, but I did get some crispiness. It just wasn’t insta perfect for all of you to see.
Pork as I’ve learnt is a super forgiving meat, so even if you make mistakes, it usually turns out well. It doesn’t need the same kind of love and attention other meats do.
Step 5
Let the meat rest once you’ve taken it out the oven. It should rest for about 15 minutes or so. Once that’s done, then cut it into slices.
It’s pretty much ready to go now. You can use the liq. uid from the stock as a base for a gravy, but that’s upto you. The meat was super soft and moist so I didn’t really need it.
Step 6 (optional)
Boil some broccoli and sauté it with our chili croil from last week. Maybe a spoon of croil and this was a done deal. Ate it with my pork (see first picture) because you do need some veggies in life especially over Christmas where tables are groaning from the weight of roasted meats.
Maybe step 7 (Important)
Reheating is important if the roast isn’t going to be consumed in one sitting.
I was hanging out with my friend, Yuri, he’s the trainer who trains (name changed to a generic Russian KGB Agent) and his wife, Party P. We did a potluck and Yuri, a superior cook, weightlifter and generally unimpressed human asked me if he should reheat in the microwave or oven.
“Microwave it!” I said.
Meat gets rubbery and tougher when you do, so always use an oven even if it takes longer. Needless to say, Yuri was left unimpressed but he finished everything.
“Microwaved food tastes better,” said nobody and for a brief moment, me.
This meat is best enjoyed with friends and greens. I ate it alone twice with greens which wasn’t bad either.
Let me know how you fare if you attempt this. And good luck salivating as you wait for this to cook.
Other things to watch
Jamie Oliver’s Italian Christmas H/T to Tarini for giving me some ideas to make a Porchetta in the future.
Slowest cooked pork - Super simple and super slowwwww, but prepare to wow friends and Yuri.
Vegetable broth cubes to prep for life. What a great way to get a meal going when you’re in a pinch. I haven’t tried this yet, but I am totally going to when I get back to Delhi.
Enjoy y’all and Merry Christmas.