Meat Dishes
Roast Pork with Crackling
A rolled pork loin joint with crackling that really crackles: the skin is dried, scored and rubbed with fennel salt, blasted in a hot oven, then the joint roasts slowly on onions and apple, which make a sweet cider gravy at the end.
- Serves 6
- Dry the skin overnight (best)
- Roast about 1 hr 45 min
- Rest 20 min
- Cook to 63–68°C in the centre
- British
Method
The day before if you can, unwrap the pork (1.6 kg), pat the skin very dry with kitchen paper and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. If the butcher has not scored it, score the skin at 1 cm intervals with a very sharp knife or clean craft knife, cutting through the skin and fat but not into the meat.
Take the pork out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 240°C (fan 220°C, gas 9).
Crush the salt (2 tsp) and fennel seeds (2 tsp) roughly in a mortar. Rub the oil (1 tbsp) into the skin, then rub in the fennel salt, pushing it into the score lines.
Lay the onions (2 onions), apple (1 cooking apple) and sage (a little) in a roasting tin and sit the pork on top. Roast for 25–30 minutes until the skin has blistered and started to crackle.
Turn the oven down to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas 4) and roast for about 1 hour 15 minutes more (allow 45 minutes per kg in total), adding a splash of water to the tin if the onions start to catch. The pork is done when the centre reads 63–68°C and the juices run clear.
If the crackling is not crisp all over, lift the pork onto a tray and put it under a hot grill, watching it closely, for a few minutes. Rest the pork, uncovered so the crackling stays crisp, for 20 minutes.
For the gravy, spoon off most of the fat from the tin and put it on the hob over a medium heat. Stir in the flour (1 tbsp), mashing the soft onion and apple, then gradually add the cider (200 ml) and let it bubble for 2 minutes. Pour in the stock (400 ml) and simmer for 5 minutes, then strain into a jug, pressing on the onions.
Cut the crackling off in one piece and snap it into strips. Carve the pork thickly and serve with the crackling and gravy.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Dry skin is the secret of good crackling: an overnight rest in the fridge, uncovered, makes the biggest difference.
- Pork belly works the same way: roast it hot for 30 minutes, then at 160°C (fan 140°C) for 2–2½ hours, as Jamie Oliver does for his belly.
- Serve with roast potatoes, apple sauce and greens. Leftovers make fine sandwiches with stuffing and apple sauce.
- Pork loin is lean: take it out at 63–65°C and let the resting finish it so it stays juicy.
How this recipe was developed
We compared roast pork with crackling from Jamie Oliver (his pork loin, leg and belly recipes), Gordon Ramsay’s slow-roasted pork belly, BBC Good Food’s slow-roast rolled belly and America’s Test Kitchen’s old-fashioned roast pork.
- Dry skin, hot start. Jamie Oliver dries the skin overnight and starts the roast at full heat until the crackling blisters, then turns the oven down; we follow that pattern.
- Fennel salt. Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food’s rolled belly (4.7/5 from 18 ratings) both rub the skin with crushed fennel seeds and salt.
- Roast on onions. Jamie Oliver roasts his joints on onions; we add apple, which suits pork and thickens the gravy.
- Cider gravy. Jamie Oliver makes a cider gravy in the tin; America’s Test Kitchen also braises with cider. We strain it smooth.
- Cook to temperature. America’s Test Kitchen cooks pork to a measured temperature; we give one so the loin stays juicy.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- Jamie Oliver: Pork and crackling
- Jamie Oliver: Perfect pork belly
- Gordon Ramsay: Slow Roasted Pork Belly
- BBC Good Food (Matt Tebbutt): Slow-roast rolled pork belly (4.7/5, 18 ratings)
- America's Test Kitchen: Old-Fashioned Roast Pork (4.5/5, 62 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.