Description
This classic Pork Roast with Crispy Pork Crackling features a succulent boneless pork shoulder slow-roasted on a bed of garlic and onions, creating tender, flavorful meat with irresistibly bubbly, crunchy crackling. The roast is carefully seasoned with salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, then slow-cooked and finished with a high-temperature blast to achieve perfect crispiness. Served with a rich white wine and chicken broth gravy, this dish is a comforting centerpiece perfect for family dinners and special occasions.
Ingredients
Scale
Pork and Seasoning
- 3 kg (6 lb) boneless skin on pork shoulder, unrolled/netting removed
- 3 tsp cooking or kosher salt (NOT salt flakes or table salt)
- 1 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp fennel seeds (or other herb/spice of choice)
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
Aromatics and Liquids
- 1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally
- 2 onions (brown, white or red), halved
- 2 cups dry white wine, or alcoholic/non-alcoholic cider
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock, low sodium
Other
- 1/4 cup flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dry Skin: Pat the pork skin dry thoroughly with paper towels. For best results, leave the pork uncovered in the fridge overnight or at least for 1 hour to let the skin dry out, which helps form crispy crackling.
- Preheat Oven: Set your oven to 220°C (430°F), or 200°C fan assisted.
- Season Pork Flesh: Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp salt, all the black pepper, and fennel seeds over the flesh side of the pork. Drizzle and rub in 1 tbsp olive oil to fully coat and season all crevices.
- Salt Skin: Flip the pork so skin side is up. Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over the skin and rub evenly. Generously sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt across the skin, ensuring even coverage to prevent bald patches which won’t crisp properly.
- Create Aromatic Bed: Place the halved garlic bulbs and onions in the roasting pan. Set the pork skin side up on this bed to infuse flavor and keep the pork elevated.
- Add Wine: Carefully pour the white wine into the pan, avoiding contact with the pork skin.
- Lower Oven Temperature: Immediately reduce oven temperature to 160°C (320°F), or 140°C fan.
- Slow Roast: Roast the pork for 2 1/2 hours, allowing gentle cooking and rendering of fat.
- Level the Skin (1 1/2 hours in): Check for warping of the pork and unevenness on the skin. Use foil balls to support and level the skin surface and reposition any displaced pork sections for even crackling.
- Maintain Pan Moisture and Salt on Skin: Add water if the pan is drying out. Reapply oil and salt on any bald spots that may appear on the skin to ensure crackling bubbles.
- Increase Heat: Turn oven temperature up to 250°C (485°F), or the highest possible setting.
- Crisp the Skin: Return pork to the oven for 30 minutes, rotating as needed to crisp all sides. Use foil patches secured with water-soaked toothpicks to cover areas that are done early and allow other parts to crisp further.
- Rest: Transfer the roast to a serving platter and loosely tent with foil. Let rest for 20 minutes to redistribute juices while maintaining crackling crispness.
- Slice and Serve: Slice pork with a serrated knife. Serve with the pan gravy poured to the side to keep the crackling crisp.
- Serve with Gravy: Prepare a gravy using the pan juices, chicken broth, and flour. Serve alongside but not over the crackling to preserve its texture.
Notes
- For best crackling, drying the skin uncovered in the fridge overnight is ideal, but even an hour helps.
- Use cooking or kosher salt, not salt flakes or table salt, for optimal crackling texture.
- Leveling the pork skin during cooking to prevent warping is key to achieving an even crispy crackling surface.
- Keep the pan moist by adding water if needed to prevent burning of base aromatics.
- If any bald patches appear on the skin where salt has fallen off, reapply oil and salt to enable bubbling crackling.
- Netting should be removed from the pork before roasting to allow even seasoning and cooking.
