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Took me 8 tries to get pork belly skin crispy enough for crackling
I kept ending up with chewy skin no matter what I did. Tried scoring deeper, different temps, salting overnight, the whole deal. Finally figured out after 2 months of trial and error that I wasn't drying the skin out enough before cooking. Leaving it uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours on a rack made all the difference. Now I get that bubbly crispy crackling every time. Anyone else have a trick that took way too long to discover?
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susan_bell29d ago
Actually leaving it uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours does work but I found 12 hours is plenty if you pat it super dry first. The salt overnight step also draws out moisture so you don't want to overdo the drying time or the meat gets too firm. Try scoring just the fat not the meat underneath too, that helped me avoid the chewy spots way more than I expected.
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@jake638 yeah it’s a labor of love right? I second what susan_bell said about the 12 hours being enough if you really dry the skin first. I do the uncovered fridge thing too but I also hit it with a hair dryer on low for a few minutes right before it goes in the oven. Gets that extra layer of moisture off that can still mess with the puffing. And totally agree on scoring only the fat not the meat. One slip into the muscle and you get that weird chewy strip every time.
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