Pork scratchings

[desperance]

Oh, look, it's a bank holiday. What else am I going to do? Of course I watched "The Sound of Music" this afternoon; of course (because I was alone, except for Barry) I sang along; of course I made pork scratchings.

Oh, all right, that last doesn't entirely follow. I did that because I could, and because I wanted to: because I like something to crunch with the wine while I'm working, and because I have a source for the rinds, and because I have the technique and it's a shame to waste it.

And because technique is ever-interesting, I scratched (we call it that) in experimental fashion: were they better cooked rind-side up or fat-side up, or on their sides? Made straight, or allowed to curl? Like that.

The answers are, I find, that it doesn't make a blind bit of difference, so long as you have the technique.

This is how to do it, then: cut your pork skin into strips, a centimetre wide or thereabouts. Be sure they're dry, then scatter them with salt. After half an hour, wipe off the salt - and any moisture it's drawn out - with paper towels, and lay them on a baking tray. Slip 'em into the bottom of a very slow oven, and leave 'em for three, four hours, till they are darkly transparent (like the albumen of a thousand-year egg, more or less). Then knock the heat up to medium and give them another hour, hour and a half, till utterly crisp and not at all chewy. Then tip them out onto a plate, scatter with salt (I use a herby salt, with aromatics - rosemary, juniper, like that) and let cool for five minutes to increase the crispiness yet further.

That is all. Go crunch, enjoy. I would say 'store in an airtight container', but that's meaningless; you won't have made enough to bother keeping any.

Comments

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

I'm reliable informed that the BBC edited 'The Sound of Music' (I was decorating at the time) Is nothing sacred?