Recipe

Crackling pork with apple and cider sauce

Nov 27, 2013 1:00pm
  • 20 mins preparation
  • 1 hr 30 mins cooking
  • Serves 8
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Ingredients

Crackling pork
  • 2 kilogram 8-rib rack of pork
  • 1 tablespoon coarse cooking salt
  • 9 baby (225g) onions, halved
  • 3 trimmed (300g) celery stalks, cut into 8 lengths
  • 2/3 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Apple and cider sauce
  • 10 gram butter
  • 2 french shallots, sliced thinly
  • 2 medium (300g) green apples, peeled, cored, sliced thinly
  • 3/4 cup (180ml) dry cider
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

Crackling pork with apple and cider sauce
  • 1
    Preheat oven to very hot (250°C/230°C fan-forced). Place pork in a large baking dish. Rub scored rind with salt. Roast pork, uncovered, in a very hot oven for 25 minutes or until the rind blisters. Drain excess fat from dish.
  • 2
    Reduce the oven temperature to moderate (180°C/160°C fan-forced). Place onions and celery in baking dish with pork. Roast pork and vegetables for a further 45 minutes or until cooked as desired. Pork is best served slightly pink (or insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the meat; it should read between 65°C and 71°C). Turn or shake vegetables occasionally during cooking.
  • 3
    Meanwhile, to make apple and cider sauce, heat butter in a saucepan, cook shallots, stirring, until softened. Add apple, cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add cider, bring to the boil; boil, uncovered, for 1 minute. Cover, simmer, 5 to 10 minutes or until apples are tender and cider has reduced slightly. Add sugar, lemon juice and salt; blend apple mixture until smooth.
  • 4
    Remove pork and vegetables from oven. Cover with foil. Stand pork for 10 minutes before slicing. Remove vegetables from dish, toss with parsley leaves.
  • 5
    Serve pork with apple and cider sauce and vegetable mixture.

Notes

Ask your butcher to score the rind, 1cm apart, across the pork in the same direction as you will slice. The rind should be scored deeply, through to the fat, to ensure the fat is rendered and the crackling will be crisp. This recipe is best made close to serving.

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