Is your crackling a bit hit-and-miss? Not getting perfect crackling every time?
Mine was too, until I had a crackling coaching session with a retired butcher. Here are four reasons why you’re not getting perfect crackling and how to get it right, every time.
1. not enough surface area
The more opportunity you give the salt and heat to penetrate the pork rind, the better the result. You can do this two ways
- score the rind. Often your butcher will do this for you. If he hasn’t a stanley knife is the best weapon for scoring the pork rind. Make long widthways cuts about 1 cm apart. The cuts should be deep, but not deep enough to reach the meat layer.
- scald the rind. After the rind has been scored (by you or the butcher), pour boiling water directly onto the rind. The heat from the boiling water will curl the rind and open the cracks for better heat penetration. Avoid pouring boiling water on the exposed meat, concentrate on the scored rind.
2. not dry enough
Sounds counterintuitive that I just told you to pour water on the roast right? Now that you’d made it wet, it’s important to dry it carefully. Using paper towel, gently and thoroughly dry the pork.
3. not enough salt
Once the roast is dried, rub oil and salt into the rind. Be generous with both. Pay particular attention to getting the oil and salt into the score marks. The salt reacting with the fat is what causes crackling to puff up and become crisp. Leave the oil and salt ten minutes before roasting. I like to whiz fennel seeds in the food processor and add them to the salt and oil. Fennel gives the crackling a lovely aniseed flavour. 
4. not hot enough
Heat is the key. Start with a searing hot oven – 220ºC for twenty minutes. Don’t be tempted to open the oven door to have a peek or add the veggies. That first scorching is the secret to perfect crackling. After twenty minutes, drop the temperature to 180ºC and cook your pork for 45 minutes per kilo. The pork is cooked then the juices run clear. If you have a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should be 7oºC. Allow the roast to rest before serving. 
If all else fails
If you’re arriving a bit late and your crackling is more old boots than fine swine follow these quick steps to save your crackling.
- Reheat the oven to 220ºC.
- Cut the crackling from the roast. Cover the roast in foil and set it aside.
- Lay the crackling on a piece of foil and bung it in the very hot oven. Watch it carefully.
- Your crackling should puff and crisp up.
- Serve it to the accolades of your adoring friends and family.
Finally, did your crackling start out crunchy and finish soft? There’s a chance the steam from your roast veggies ruined your crackling. Be wary of overloading your oven with vegetables with high water content (like pumpkin and fennel).
The scalding did the trick for me . Read about it on an internet recipie and it works every time along with your other points.
What about pork char sui where the pork is already cooked?
Thanks for the great tips. I’ll have to come back to this next time I’m making roast pork, my crackling is always a bit dodgy.
I’ve never been able to perfect crackling. Must have another crack with your guidance! Thanks
Although I am a veggie, I sometimes cook pork for my family roasts. I failed the crackling so these are some great tips for next time! Bec x
Great tips . Thanks Amanda
Omg amazing advise!!! Cheers
Awesome instructions. Thank you
No worries Cassandra. Glad you found them helpful. A x
I’m about to try this right now. Thank you for the tips and fingers crossed.
Good luck Shari – I hope it turned out beautifully!
We cook roast in an air fryer 230 degrees skin up, low rack for 15 minutes reduce heat to 190 degrees for a further 35 minutes. The end result everything delicious except the pork crackle which was very tasty but ROCK hard. Can you please offer any suggestions to rectify this ??. Thank You. Kevin.
Hi Kevin I have read elsewhere that to achieve a crispy rather than hard crackling you need to puncture lots of tiny holes in the skin rather than make large scores with a knife. The more holes the better! This makes tiny bubbles in the skin while cooking so if puffs up and allows the skin to break and flake apart so much easier when cooked. This is the Chinese method if I’m right in thinking.
Good luck!
Glad to have come across this discussion even though I’m late to it. Sadly I have never been able to produce good crackling, and I have tried everything others have suggested (except for the comment above about pricking with lots of tiny holes).. Even with the oven pre-heated to 250 C I get leathery rind. Shoulder, leg, belly – it makes no difference. I’ve used a hair drier to dry the scored skin, poured over boiling water, dried the rind thoroughly with multiple paper towels, used salt liberally (e.g. 10 ml) with or without olive oil and spices, made sure the leg or shoulder was at room temperature etc. etc. The only thing I can think of which may have played a role is that the pork is always from the supermarket and is kept frozen by me for varying lengths of time. However it’s sealed in plastic so no slow ‘freeze drying’ can occur and when it thaws it’s supple and looks quite fresh and soft. I noticed someone else on another site had commented that frozen pork doesn’t work – it needs to be fresh, but others have contradicted this, claiming that they can use either frozen or non-frozen meat. Hmm.. I’m out of ideas, but will try the pricking method next time.
How can you cook “white “pork rind crackling. Almost all of my cooking turns out 20 to 30% brown or burned look. I can see in the groceries very white ones. Is there some chemical added to the cooking oil to make the bleached look?
Hi Tony, I’m not 100% sure on what you’re asking. Crackling is effectively the skin of the pig, so the natural colouring of the animal will show on the uncooked rind. I don’t think you can (or should) change that. Cheers, Amanda
Done all these things. Still doesn’t work.
Did you have anything else in the oven while you were cooking it John? Could it be the steam from roast veggies ruined your crackle?
Hi All, I have tried everything except the scalding hot water trick. Last time I dried out the pork overnight in the fridge (salting it prior). Then patted dry with towel and placed on rack in very hot oven. Tiny bit of crackling at the ends but the rest was soft. Have tried removing crackling and placing it in the oven, under the grill, even used a blow torch to no avail. I have used both supermarket and butcher shop meats, using at times frozen and fresh portions. I have tried different cuts of pork too. I’m not giving up, will try the hot water method and a different kind of pork cut. Congratulations to those who have had success!