Celebrating Heritage British Food & Cooking
Pork scratchings are a delicious snack of oven-baked salted pork rind and I love them!
The crackling from the Sunday roast pork is fought over in our house. You have to fend off competitors trying to grab some before it reaches the table. The solution is to ask your butcher for some pork rind, preferably scored, and make some pork scratchings.
Jamie Oliver’s recipe is really easy and makes a bowlful of scratchings just right to accompany a drink with friends, or have them all to yourself. Naughty but nice!
Pork Scratchings
Pork Scratchings like you get in the pub.
Ingredients
- 500 g pork rind in one piece
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon Sea salt
Conversions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180ºC/Fan 160°C/Gas 4.
- Place the pork rind skin-side down and, using a sharp knife, make lots of light scores in the fat, or ask your butcher to do this for you.
- Grind the fennel seeds with 1 tablespoon of sea salt in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle onto the pork, rubbing into the slashes with your fingers.
- Leave for 20 minutes to allow the salt to remove excess moisture.
- Using scissors, cut the pork rind into chunks and place on a roasting tray, and place in the oven. As the pork scratchings roast, they’ll release lots of fat – spoon this out every so often and set aside for roasting potatoes.
- After 20 minutes, turn down the oven to 160ºC/Fan 140°C/Gas 3 and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the scratchings become hard and crispy.
- Line a plate with a double layer of kitchen paper, and spoon the scratchings out to drain.
Notes
You can’t beat a bowl of pork scratchings with a nice pint of beer.
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
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Stuffing Crust Pork Chops with Apples
Pork with apples is a classic combination. The addition of a stuffing crust keeps the chops succulent and tender.
Check out this recipe