Crackling wants three things: dry skin, salt, and heat at the start. Nothing else goes near it. The Angel Dust goes on the meat side only, and it is the fennel and mustard in it doing the work, which is the same pairing a porchetta has leaned on for about four hundred years. Bramleys on the side, cooked down with nothing but a splash of water.
2 hrs. Serves 6.
Ingredients
- 2kg Pork loin, skin on, scored
- 2 dessertspoons Plateit Angel Dust Rub
- 2 tsp Fine salt, for the skin
- 3 Bramley apples, peeled and chunked
- 200ml Cider
- 2 Onions, halved
Method
- Uncovered in the fridge overnight, skin up. Dry skin cracks, damp skin goes to leather.
- Oven to 240C. Rub 2 dessertspoons of Plateit Angel Dust Rub into the meat and the cut ends only. Salt the skin and leave it otherwise bare.
- Onions in the tray, pork on top. 30 mins at 240C to blister the skin, then down to 170C for 70 to 80 mins.
- Rest 20 mins under a loose sheet of foil, skin uncovered so it stays hard.
- Skim the tray, deglaze with the cider, simmer hard for 5 mins. Apples in a small pan with a splash of water until they collapse. Carve thickly, snap the crackling by hand.
Do this: Keep the rub off the skin. It only needs salt up there, and anything else will steam it soft.
