Christmas Roast Pork (ft. Crackling!)

For the last few years, I’ve hosted Christmas Eve dinner for my partner and his family. This year was no different. Before hosting a dinner party, I love to plan out the full menu; starters to dessert. I find it’s (A) a good way to work out if the menu works and visualise the meal altogether, but also (B) I like to keep a record of each year’s menu.

This year, I had to go with fool proof recipes. I promise you, roast pork with crackling is a fool proof, fail safe recipe. Do not be discouraged!

To keep the festive theme, I roasted this pork with seasonal stone fruits, but feel free to swap out with apples or pears – whatever’s in season.

Ingredients

1.5kg pork loin, skin on

2 x large onions, roughly chopped

4 x cloves of garlic, lightly crushed

1 x cup whole ripe cherries

2 x ripe nectarines, cut into eighths

2 x medium sized fresh beetroots, cut into eighths

1 x bottle apple cider (preferably opt for a brand with a high sugar content)

1 x tablespoon rock salt

1 x teaspoon black pepper

 

Method

• Remove any trussing from your pork loin. The secret to crispy pork crackling is even heat distribution and dry skin. Trussing may mean you get more even slices, but it’s much harder to keep your crackling consistent. Trust me. Untruss the pork loin.
• Add the garlic, stone fruit, onions and apple cider to the bottom of a large food container. Preferably one with a lid that fits in your fridge.
• Score the skin of the pork – better still, ask your butcher to help do this for you. There’s no science to it, just make sure you don’t cut too deep. Once scored, place your pork on a chopping board or baking tray.
• With a kitchen towel, pat the skin dry, then rub the salt and pepper all over the pork. Try to get most of the salt rubbed on the skin side of the pork.
• Carefully place the pork skin side up in the food container on top of the fruit and vegetable mixture. I like to marinate my pork overnight in the fridge, but 1-2 hours is plenty of time if you’re in a hurry.
• Once marinated, pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Carefully transfer the contents of the food container onto a baking tray. Place the pork on top of the fruit / onions / garlic. Make sure the pork is sitting levelled in the pan; the pork will cook more evenly, and this will help with the cooking of the crackling. If your piece of pork is not sitting levelled, scrunch up some pieces of cooking foil and add to the bottom to support the pork (kind of like the way you’d place folded cardboard under the foot of a table to level lit). Add the beetroot to the pan. Before placing in the oven, pat the pork skin dry once more.
• Roast in the oven at 160 degrees for approximately 1 hour, then turn on the grill and leave for a further 10 minutes for the crackling to crisp up. This is where the magic happens. I like to keep an eye on the crackling, and check in every few minutes to make sure the edges don’t catch and burn. Once your crackling is golden, remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 10 minutes before carving. I usually remove the crackling altogether to carve, and break the crackling into pieces and serve.