Roast Pork

[*Nikki*]

I'm cooking a roast pork for dinner tonight - i have never cooked one before (can only do chicken and lamb).. and i have no idea how to do it (and it needs to have crackling (fav bit mmm).... So im hoping someone can help

Thanks

[Lucy]

Make sure you take it out of its plastic wrapper as soon as you can, and before you cook it, rest it on a plate lined with kitchen paper, covered with just greaseproof paper.

Let it sit at room temp for at least an hour before you cook it.

Dry the skin TOTALLY ie get a dry clean tea towel and thoroughly rub all over the joint to get it stone dry.

Then score the skin (to be honest, the best knife I have found for doing this easily is a craft knife!) and make straight clean score lines all over the skin around 1cm apart and 1 cm deep

Make sure your oven is hot. (200'c)

Add the joint to a roasting pan with just a little veg oil in the botton to stop it sticking

Just before you pop it in the over, rub salt all over the scored skin.

Cook in the hot oven for 30 mins per 500g meat.

That should do the trick! (Have you got gas or electric BTW? Electric is a 'drier' heat, so crackle tends to be even better in an electric oven...........)

[*Nikki*]

Hey lucy - you are a lifesaver hehe.... we have an electric oven... thankyou so much for your help

[Mother Goose]

I have always cooked roast pork at 200 degrees for first half hour then reduced to 180 for 30 minutes per 500g and then rested before carving. Of course, I also use paper towel to completely dry the crackling first and then rub vinegar into it with a paper towel and then generously rub salt into it (making sure I get plenty into the cracks). Yummo!

[Lucy]

I just went and bought a roaast prok joint for tonight..........I was inspired by this yesterday.......have been craving crackle and apple sauce ever since!

[~Debbie~]

are you ment to baste it as well while you are cooking? That is, maybe 2 or 3 times, use a large spoon to scoop some of the juice at the bottom of the pain, and pour over the top?

[Lucy]

I don't baste pork, no. Because if you get the skin damp/wet by basting in, it will not be dry enough to turn into crackle.....it just goes all hard and chewy instread of crisp, IYKWIM?

That said, if the pork joint is on the bone, it wouldn't need basting anyway as a pork joint on the bone is generally kept really moist.

Some commercial kitchens, if they are cooking large joints of pork, will remove the skin entirely and make crackle separately, and then of course the pork meat (as it has had its skin & fat removed.) would definately need basting.........

I do, however, believe that basting poultry and beef are essential........but non-essential for pork and lamb...........

[~Debbie~]

Aaaarh- thats what i am doing wrong then.....Thanks Lucy