The Best Hog Roast Crackling Recipe

Crackling, it’s a thing of gastronomic wonder – when it’s cooked right! Don’t waste that precious fatty coating that surrounds all the lovely roast meat at your next hog roast in Somerset. Follow this crackling recipe to get it just right:

1. Make scores in your meat – Use a sharp carving knife to score 1/4-inch deep scores all over the body of the hog. These cuts should be around 1/4-inch apart and no further than 1/2-inch apart. This is to ensure that the crackling doesn’t go leathery. Try to keep the cuts parallel, this will stop the skin peeling off. Forget criss-crossing as you would on a joint for your sunday roast. It will drop off into the hog roast grease puddle and become completely inedible!
2. Reach the fat -Make sure that your cuts are deep enough that they go through the hog skin and reach the fat layer beneath – this is vital.
3.  Baste your pork skin – Juice 6 lemons. Mix with 1L of cooking oil. Stir with a large (new or super clean) paint brush, this will help to emulsify your mix. Now take this mixture and ‘paint’ your pig all over, pushing the mixture into the cuts.
4. Cover in salt – Now take coarse salt and rub it into the cuts in the meat. Work it well in with your hands.
5. Drizzle and pat – Drizzle the remaining basting oil and lemon ‘paint’ mix and simple pat on any remaining salt.
6. Re-baste – During the end of your require cooking period, mix up some more basting oil and stop to re-baste and salt the hog all over.
7. Serving up – to cut off your crackling you will need kitchen shears.Leave any leathery crackling in place to remove later. Use the shears to cut the cracking into bite-sized pieces. Have a sneaky try before your guest, you’ll be impressed!