A top chef’s secrets for perfectly crispy pork crackling every time

You can’t go wrong with succulent, tender pork belly with crunchy crackling on top.

The best part about roast pork is the crispy crackling – the part that plenty of family members mock-fight over. Or, if it’s really great, actually fight!

Crackling is basically the skin of the pork made crispy through a combination of dryness, salt and heat, which sounds simple. But perfecting pork crackling can be a little tricky, so we chatted with Melbourne-based Italian chef Matteo Tine, owner of Mr Ottorino restaurant, to find out how to make perfect pork crackling every time.

Care and time before cooking is all it takes to get it right, Matteo reckons.

You can’t crisp something up when it’s damp, the chef says, explaining that “if the skin on the pork belly is wet and almost too fresh, then the pork belly will not get great crackling”.

To get the right effect with fresh pork belly, the skin simply needs to be dried out.

So how can you do this? First, make sure that the skin has been properly scored. If preparing the meat yourself, Matteo says to score the skin with incisions using a sharp knife, then pour boiling water over the skin – this helps to crisp up the skin right from the beginning.

“Rub it with a generous amount of salt and squeeze lemon over it,” he advises doing next. Salt is great for two things – it helps to draw out moisture and seasons the fat so the meat will taste great.

Matteo says to leave the meat to air-dry, uncovered, in the fridge for up to 24 hours. When it comes to cooking, roast the pork belly skin-side up, and if you’re cooking to impress, add some veggies of your choice in the tray for extra flavour. Matteo recommends using onion, carrot, celery and garlic “along with some white wine and a little water”.

If you leave the pork on high for too long, you could risk burning your crackling, though. Instead, Matteo advises roasting the pork belly on low at 160 degrees celsius for roughly 30 minutes.

Serve with a side of old-fashioned mash and dig in!

Do you make great crackling? What’s your secret to getting it right?