Roasting Pork Loin
Discussion
Afternoon all,
I'm looking for any advice with regards to roasting Pork Loin. I've not had too much experience with cooking pork, so I popped down the butchers earlier and picked up this lovely looking piece of loin.
My plan is to roast it, and served on a bed of sautéed mushrooms and shallots, whole grain mustard mash and roasted honey glazed carrots, with an onion gravy. My issue comes to cooking times and temperatures, I'm wary to it going dry so want to avoid that as best as I can.
I'm thinking about scoring in about 2 hours before cooking and rub in salt to dry out the fat a little. Then in the fan oven at 220c for 30 minutes and turn it down to 180c for another 60 minutes (going by the 20 mins per lb). Then rest for 15-20 minutes before carving into nice thick slices.
Also, do I remove the string now, score it and tie it back up??
Opinions, tips and advice??
Many thanks!
I'm looking for any advice with regards to roasting Pork Loin. I've not had too much experience with cooking pork, so I popped down the butchers earlier and picked up this lovely looking piece of loin.
My plan is to roast it, and served on a bed of sautéed mushrooms and shallots, whole grain mustard mash and roasted honey glazed carrots, with an onion gravy. My issue comes to cooking times and temperatures, I'm wary to it going dry so want to avoid that as best as I can.
I'm thinking about scoring in about 2 hours before cooking and rub in salt to dry out the fat a little. Then in the fan oven at 220c for 30 minutes and turn it down to 180c for another 60 minutes (going by the 20 mins per lb). Then rest for 15-20 minutes before carving into nice thick slices.
Also, do I remove the string now, score it and tie it back up??
Opinions, tips and advice??
Many thanks!
I use a temp probe to about 165 in the centre.
I'd put it on a roasting rack and cover it with foil, put a little water in the bottom of the tray and cook until nearing done.
I'd then remove the foil and turn the heat up to crisp the crackling.
You need to dry the skin out (even use a hairdryer)... make sure the scores are nice and deep and got plenty of salt on them
I'd put it on a roasting rack and cover it with foil, put a little water in the bottom of the tray and cook until nearing done.
I'd then remove the foil and turn the heat up to crisp the crackling.
You need to dry the skin out (even use a hairdryer)... make sure the scores are nice and deep and got plenty of salt on them
Just follow the advice of the Oracle of Pork!
calibrax said:
Dry the skin with paper towels and score it a lot with a Stanley knife or similar, almost through to the meat. Rub liberally with salt and place joint uncovered in the fridge for several hours, ideally overnight. Remove from fridge, and pat skin dry with paper towels to remove the moisture drawn out by the salt.
Cut some onions in half to rest the joint on. This will raise the joint up to ensure all the rind will crackle properly.
Place into an oven at a very high setting (230c) for at least 20 minutes. This will start the crackling off. Then reduce the heat down to 170c, and cook until the internal temperature of the joint reaches around 70c. Turn the heat back up to 230c for another 20 mins, which will bring out the crackling to perfection. Take joint out and allow to rest for 15 mins.
(Good quality pork also makes a difference... supermarket stuff doesn't usually come up as well as stuff from a butchers or a farm shop, probably partly because of the way the supermarket stuff is packaged.)
Some of mine... please control your drooling.
Cut some onions in half to rest the joint on. This will raise the joint up to ensure all the rind will crackle properly.
Place into an oven at a very high setting (230c) for at least 20 minutes. This will start the crackling off. Then reduce the heat down to 170c, and cook until the internal temperature of the joint reaches around 70c. Turn the heat back up to 230c for another 20 mins, which will bring out the crackling to perfection. Take joint out and allow to rest for 15 mins.
(Good quality pork also makes a difference... supermarket stuff doesn't usually come up as well as stuff from a butchers or a farm shop, probably partly because of the way the supermarket stuff is packaged.)
Some of mine... please control your drooling.
Edited by calibrax on Thursday 8th January 12:14
calibrax said:
Dry the skin with paper towels and score it a lot with a Stanley knife or similar, almost through to the meat. Rub liberally with salt and place joint uncovered in the fridge for several hours, ideally overnight. Remove from fridge, and pat skin dry with paper towels to remove the moisture drawn out by the salt.
Cut some onions in half to rest the joint on. This will raise the joint up to ensure all the rind will crackle properly.
Place into an oven at a very high setting (230c) for at least 20 minutes. This will start the crackling off. Then reduce the heat down to 170c, and cook until the internal temperature of the joint reaches around 70c. Turn the heat back up to 230c for another 20 mins, which will bring out the crackling to perfection. Take joint out and allow to rest for 15 mins.
(Good quality pork also makes a difference... supermarket stuff doesn't usually come up as well as stuff from a butchers or a farm shop, probably partly because of the way the supermarket stuff is packaged.)
Some of mine... please control your drooling.
I followed this recipe yesterday. Is the crackling supposed to be soft and crunchy (if that makes sense) or hard and crunchy? It was absolutely delicious, but I think maybe the crackling didn't go hard because towards the end, I basted it with its own hot juices?Cut some onions in half to rest the joint on. This will raise the joint up to ensure all the rind will crackle properly.
Place into an oven at a very high setting (230c) for at least 20 minutes. This will start the crackling off. Then reduce the heat down to 170c, and cook until the internal temperature of the joint reaches around 70c. Turn the heat back up to 230c for another 20 mins, which will bring out the crackling to perfection. Take joint out and allow to rest for 15 mins.
(Good quality pork also makes a difference... supermarket stuff doesn't usually come up as well as stuff from a butchers or a farm shop, probably partly because of the way the supermarket stuff is packaged.)
Some of mine... please control your drooling.
Edited by calibrax on Thursday 8th January 12:14
tomsugden said:
I followed this recipe yesterday. Is the crackling supposed to be soft and crunchy (if that makes sense) or hard and crunchy? It was absolutely delicious, but I think maybe the crackling didn't go hard because towards the end, I basted it with its own hot juices?
Certainly shouldn't be soft. Perhaps your oven is not getting up to temperature? The crackling should already be fairly hard after the initial blast. Basting it is not something I do, but if done right at the end it shouldn't make much difference to the crunchiness.I was using a temperature probe - one was stuck into the meat, the other was monitoring the oven temperature. I took the oven up to 230, them put the (room temperature) meat in. The temperature dropped a bit due to the door opening, but fairly quickly went back up.
I just wondered if I was doing something wrong, as I have tried it twice, and although delicious, both times the crackling was soft. It was a good quality cut sourced from a local farm shop both times. I might try it in the Big Green Egg and see if I get better results. Thanks.
I just wondered if I was doing something wrong, as I have tried it twice, and although delicious, both times the crackling was soft. It was a good quality cut sourced from a local farm shop both times. I might try it in the Big Green Egg and see if I get better results. Thanks.
If near the end of cooking the crackling is still soft in places, the best thing to do is carefully remove it with a sharp knife (in one piece if you can, but not essential) leaving as much of the fat layer on the meat as you can.
You can then wrap the meat in foil and leave to rest while you finish off the crackling and make the gravy etc. The core temperature of the joint will continue to rise during resting so I usually take it out of the oven when it's 2-3 degrees off the final temperature.
Then, to get the crackling properly crackly (
) you need to scrape off any remaining fat or meat from the underside so it's just the rind you're left with. Some bits might be good already, in which case you can cut these off but any soft pieces can be put back in the oven at a high temp to finish off. Keep checking every few minutes because the difference between perfect crackling and burnt pigskin is only a matter of seconds when done this way!
You can then wrap the meat in foil and leave to rest while you finish off the crackling and make the gravy etc. The core temperature of the joint will continue to rise during resting so I usually take it out of the oven when it's 2-3 degrees off the final temperature.
Then, to get the crackling properly crackly (
) you need to scrape off any remaining fat or meat from the underside so it's just the rind you're left with. Some bits might be good already, in which case you can cut these off but any soft pieces can be put back in the oven at a high temp to finish off. Keep checking every few minutes because the difference between perfect crackling and burnt pigskin is only a matter of seconds when done this way! Keep the oven high at the start, pretty much until the crackling is almost there, and only turn the oven down once you have a crispiness to it. Turn the temp down, and if you are worried that it might start to burn while you wait for the core to come up to temperature, cover loosely with a foil shield until the final blast.
What cut of meat are you using, and where are you getting it from? I find that shoulder, belly and leg are the best for crackling, loin is not the greatest. And farm shop usually beats supermarket. But my method works for all - I've never had a failure.
What cut of meat are you using, and where are you getting it from? I find that shoulder, belly and leg are the best for crackling, loin is not the greatest. And farm shop usually beats supermarket. But my method works for all - I've never had a failure.
Edited by calibrax on Monday 2nd March 16:50
I followed the traditional recipe as above a while back and the crackling was amazing
However, the other Sunday we did the slow roast version where we kept the pig in the oven for around 3 hours 30 at a low heat. We did the hot blast at the beginning but the cracking went soft, any pointers?
The meat was absolutely stunning cooked the slow way, so soft and almost like pulled pork but the crackling was disappointing-I even tried the secondary blast after I'd removed it but it didn't seem to work
However, the other Sunday we did the slow roast version where we kept the pig in the oven for around 3 hours 30 at a low heat. We did the hot blast at the beginning but the cracking went soft, any pointers?
The meat was absolutely stunning cooked the slow way, so soft and almost like pulled pork but the crackling was disappointing-I even tried the secondary blast after I'd removed it but it didn't seem to work
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I followed the traditional recipe as above a while back and the crackling was amazing
However, the other Sunday we did the slow roast version where we kept the pig in the oven for around 3 hours 30 at a low heat. We did the hot blast at the beginning but the cracking went soft, any pointers?
The meat was absolutely stunning cooked the slow way, so soft and almost like pulled pork but the crackling was disappointing-I even tried the secondary blast after I'd removed it but it didn't seem to work
You can do the crackling fully at the start, then cut it off and remove it before the slow cooking. The softness will be caused because it is more or less being steamed as the pork slow cooks.However, the other Sunday we did the slow roast version where we kept the pig in the oven for around 3 hours 30 at a low heat. We did the hot blast at the beginning but the cracking went soft, any pointers?
The meat was absolutely stunning cooked the slow way, so soft and almost like pulled pork but the crackling was disappointing-I even tried the secondary blast after I'd removed it but it didn't seem to work
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