Sunday Roast…There are those who cook a great one and there are those whom just the thought strikes fear into their heart…Never fear…CarolCooks2 and a roast dinner…haha…Come with me and all will be revealed…
Category Archives: Roast Pork
Perfect Pork Crackling …
Nothing is better than perfectly crisp Pork Crackling.
How to achieve it, well,
It’s easy! When you know how!
I have lost count of the number of times that I have been screaming at the screen when watching my favourite cooking programs…Turn it up and leave the door shut…
When you buy your Pork look for pork which has a layer of fat underneath the skin (this) produces the best crackling.
It has to be thinly scored, for this, I actually use a Stanley Knife and woe betide anyone who uses it for D.I.Y.
The piece of Pork I have pictured is a piece of Belly Pork approx 2 kilos which I scored and rolled.
Right, let’s go, Heat oven and set to 250C.
Next, take a small amount of oil and rub into the skin.
Then generously salt the skin making sure you rub it well into the fat.
( The specs) you notice on mine is sage as we like added herbs on ours.
But just salt is fine.
Put in a very hot oven until skin starts to blister up.
If you tap with a knife you can hear it or once you get used to it you can see it blistering up.
But keep an eye on it ( as my pic) below shows I took my eye off the ball and burnt the edges. Even I have little lapses and disasters in the kitchen but I caught it in time and all was well…
Reduce the heat of the oven to about 170 degrees for the remainder of cooking time which depends on the size and cut off your pork. Pork loin cooks quicker.
You should now have a lovely piece of pork with crispy crackling and lovely melt in your mouth pork.
Serve with lovely roast potatoes and an assortment of vegetables…
Hubby’s roast dinner ..I hope you now get lovely crispy crackling and who doesn’t like that?
How do you do yours?
If you enjoyed this lesson in how to make crackling and you know someone who can’t please share..x
Enjoy your week, be happy and mindful xx
Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Cookery and Food Column with Carol Taylor – #Pork! Perfect!
How to make perfect Pork crackling every time 🙂
Carol’s Perfect Crispy Crackling
Nothing is better than perfectly crisp Pork Crackling.
How to achieve it, well, It’s easy!
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Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ” I’m possible!………Audrey Hepburn.
That’s true, so chins up and onward we go! And my what I never thought I would do was?????? With the help of a Mojito or 2…… absolutely out of my comfort zone and…….
Amazing ! What Fun! went to Improv last night and it was brilliant..I recommend anyone to try it..amazing time ..still buzzing..and if you don’t know what it is, its short sketches e.g someone picks a page number in a book.You pick the part you are playing. One person says a sentence anything whatever they are thinking and you reply exactly what is written down( but they don’t know what your script is they are just doing their own impromptu of the top of your head ..get it? such fun…. wow what a night.
Anyways….
I have decided that I am going to do more cooking or more experimenting. In other words gonna try to make at least one new dish untried by us every week.
Also, I will have a guest blogger next time Clara Wiggins who has written an amazing book for expats with lots of hints and tips. So watch this space and you will meet Clara next time……
Curry Plant seedlings..yippee.. thanks to a very kind gentleman who just requested a picture of my curry when I make it. There are some nice people left in this world. They are growing well and making new little leaves..exciting cos green fingered I am not really…
Have been busy pickling away and have pickled cucumbers, beetroot, and shallots and although the recommended time to allow those flavours to develop is at least 3 weeks not in this house it’s not! I will need to pickle some more shallots very soon.
Anyway back to cooking:
Today it was stuffed Apple and Cranberry Pork and it was amazing..so here we go the recipe for you guys.
The recipe was featured on Ema Jones blog, Food 4 Your Mood and very tasty it was. Thank you, Ema for sharing it got the thumbs up in this house. My pics aren’t as good as Ema’s but I try.
Rub for the Pork Loin.
- 4 lbs Pork Loin,
- Bacon ( enough to cover Pork Loin)
- Salt & Pepper to taste,
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil,
- 2 finely chopped Garlic Cloves,
- 1 tablespoon chopped Thyme,
- 1 tablespoon chopped Rosemary…
Cut a pocket through one end of the tenderloin. Place the centrist downwards. Don’t slice through the other end. Season in and out properly with salt and pepper.
Mix together the above ingredients and rub into pork loin, cover and put in the fridge for an hour.
While the Pork is absorbing all those lovely flavours prepare the stuffing mix.
For stuffing Pork Loin.
- Half cup Vinegar,
- 1/4 teaspoon salt,
- 2 small diced red onions,
- Olive oil as required,
- 1/2 bottle Lager Beer,
- 3/4 cup Brown sugar,
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon,
- 1 tbsp chopped ginger,
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries,
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seed,
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves,
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper,
- 4 peeled and chopped Granny Smith Apples.
Let’ Cook!
Finely chop Red Onions and cook in Olive oil until soft.
Add Apples and ginger, stir and cook for 5 mins.
Add remainder of ingredients stir to combine and simmer gently until mixture thickens and reduces.
Cool slightly before stuffing loin.
Stuffing the Loin was quite messy so I think next time I make this I will use one of the small round plastic refill sauce bottles the ones you buy to take on picnics. The top when unscrewed is quite wide so stuffing mix should go in, do not replace the lid and insert it into the split and hopefully, it should squirt down without too much mess. Well, that’s what I am going to try.
Stuff loin and then cover with bacon slices. Put tin foil on top as the bacon cooks very quickly and remove the foil about ten mins from end cooking to brown bacon. Rest loin or 10 mins before carving.
Rest, carve and serve we made the gravy from the meat juices and pork stock and it was lovely. Served with vegetables and crispy roast potatoes..mmmm.
So next time it will be Beef Rendang which is an amazing Indonesian dish and Clara Wiggins as My first guest blogger yeah!!!!
Have a lovely day love you all xx
You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live!
Merry Christmas!….only 9 days to go….are you all busy braving the hordes of shoppers this weekend…or armchair shopping… I do a bit of both……We have been busy ..still putting up Decorations and tree looks lovely…. but no snow…….I am in a reflective mood as I think we should all remember those less fortunate than ourselves or those alone or recently bereaved as we get into the swing of the festivities…I miss my dad.., especially at Christmas.
He was a strict father and a stickler for meals being on time…..one Christmas I compromised to try to please everyone…as you do… and having about an hour to go…cooking in full swing…my kids said “mum..mum..have you seen what Grandad is doing”?….you would never guess…….there he was sitting up the table in the dining room…knife in one hand and fork in tother……waiting……me… I hissed at the kids ” talk to him..get him a drink..anything” … I laugh now as I picture him in my mind…do miss you dad xxx
My favorite Pork & Basil ( Moo Pad Horapa)…I must cook this at least 3/4 times a week…I have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner and that is another thing I love about Thailand you eat what you fancy and when …no set breakfast dishes, or any meal…just what you fancy. …Recipe next week…
Early morning trip to the market at 6.30 am…..lovely Pork Roast today…..cooked by my son…well he does cook most days… every week…my friends ask if I can hire him out…lol..and love it when they get an invite as his Pork Crackling ” Is the nuts” his phrasing not mine..haha…
I’ll post the before and after pics……the smell of garlic and rosemary stuffing is divine…………….while I am waiting… I am going to watch X Factor before anyone puts the result on FB and spoils it for me..lol
Well no sun today…..just very overcast….no rain yet…..
Tomorrow I think I will get all my Christmas cloths etc out and plan my table and might do a trial run of Mince Pies….the mincemeat has been fermenting, brewing whatever for a few months now so I think a taste testing is in order and just the smell of them cooking may make me feel a little more Christmassy..
it’s definitely the cold and SNOW…that makes that Christmas feeling and atmosphere…you all so know that until Christmas is over I’m gonna keep harping on about snow and cold ….going back to the UK @ the end September for my nieces wedding…first visit in 4 years so think I may stretch it out for a few weeks so I can soak up some Christmas Cheer and do some shopping…proper size wrapping paper for one ! Yay…
Just look at that lovely crackling! I will say my son is a brilliant chef and I will be his Sous chef any day…….Tastes amazing…just saying…sorry peeps if you lived closer I would invite you to taste test…haha…
Once Christmas is over then it won’t be long until my oldest son comes over with his 3 kids and we haven’t seen the kids since we came to Thailand and it is their first visit here so will be busy planning some trips…methinks Big Buddha will be a good one as they can see the Elephants( Chang) and experience some great Thai food and a beautiful view..maybe hire a quad to scoot through the jungle on or an elephant trek.
Tchau…any guesses?…..no?……it’s goodbye in Portuguese.
Until next time…Sayonara.
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