Lemon Rosemary Pork Roast: Pork Crackling Challenge (31 May 2009)

After receiving a 1.5 kg pork rack from Australian Pork at the recent Restaurant Atelier Yuletide Roast Dinner I was determined to learn how to cook a good pork crackling for the family dinner like the one I recently had at the Chophouse. I was looking for a very easy recipe and ended up using one my mum spotted in the Coles savings junk mail catalogue for 28 May - 3 June 2009 on page 8.

One thing I forgot to read at the bottom of the recipe though for supposedly the 'Perfect Crackling' was about pouring boiling water over the skin and then patting it dry before applying salt, olive oil and cooking ... OOPS! So after I cooked the pork rack I cut a bit of the crackling skin off to further cook it separately in a very hot 220 degree oven which helped to form some of those delicious signature bubbles and a crunchier crackling. In the end the pork meat was tender and moist and I've learnt a few things I'd do differently next time to try and achieve a sensational perfect crackling!

Potato, pumpkin and French eschallots placed in a baking tray with olive oil and herbs and spices. In hindsight I should have added these a bit later or cooked separately because the pumpkin went too soft for the time I cooked the whole pork rack.

Pork rack marinated with salt, olive oil, lemon rind, lemon juice, rosemary, garlic and pepper then placed on top of vegetables 

Pork rack cooked for about 30 mins at 220 degrees then about 70 minutes at 180 degrees. An extra 20 minutes would have helped to cook the meat a bit more but the pumpkin was getting too soft already.

Pork crackling still a little soft and chewy

Lemon Rosemary Pork Roast with potato, pumpkin and French eschallots, Chef Leong :-)

Better pork crackling achieved by further cooking separately for about 20 minutes at 220 degrees 

Recipe lift out from Coles savings catalogue