Pork roast with crackling
2–3 kg pork with rind, belly, shoulder or deboned loin
20 cloves
10–15 bay leaves broken in half
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tbsp oil
Sauce:
700 ml stock from the meat
1/2 cube pork stock cube
1 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cold water
a little ground black pepper
50 ml single cream
3 tbsp redcurrant jelly
few drops of liquid browning
Preheat the oven to 250°C.
Cut deep grooves into the skin side, making sure not to cut all the way into the meat.
Place the meat upside down in a roasting pan (with the rind facing down) and pour boiling water into the bottom of the pan so that the rind lies in 1–2 cm of boiling water. Put it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and turn the meat so the rind faces up, placing it on a rack in the roasting pan. Rub oil and salt over it and insert bay leaves and cloves into the grooves in the rind.
Lower the oven temperature to 175°C and insert a meat thermometer into the meat. Cook until the thermometer shows 65°C (about 1 hour per kg).
When the meat has reached 65°C, increase the oven temperature to 250°C to get the rind to pop. You need to keep a close eye on it during this step, as it only takes a moment to go from nicely popped rind to burnt. Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest for 15–20 minutes before slicing.
While the meat is resting, you can prepare the sauce. Take the stock from the roasting pan and strain off the fat. Add 1/2 cube of pork stock cube to enhance the flavor. Thicken the stock by dissolving 1 tsp of cornstarch in 2 tbsp of cold water and stirring the mixture vigorously into the simmering stock. Add a few drops of browning, season with black pepper and 2–3 tablespoons of redcurrant jelly. Finally, add 50 ml of cooking cream to the sauce and heat for 1 minute.
Serve preferably with candied potatoes potatoes, sweet corn and the sauce.