Pork crackling used to be something that was available at a price from supermarkets in the form of "Pork Scratchings", that is until I discovered that secret that is about to be shared to all and sundry via this short article.

Years ago, I used to rely on, let's say, more traditional chefs who advocated that all I required to make the perfect piece of cooked pig skin was a sharp knife and a very hot oven. I seem to remember that it was vitally important to strive to the point of impossibility to TRY to keep the thing as dry as possible before it went into the oven. They used to say that if your crackling ended up a little tough, then it was the chefs fault as he hadn't kept it dry enough before it was cooked.

Things the moved on and I followed the line of thought that if the crackling was cut from the joint first, turned upside down and cooked face down in water for ten minutes, covered with tin foil. It was then dried and cooked at a very high temperature, the perfect crackling would simply emerge from the oven when it was ready. True, there was a slight improvement my old aunt Ethel was able to chew the stuff without breaking her teeth or having to spit the stuff out into a tissue, but the amount of effort involved tended to relegate crackling meals to those days when there was absolutely nothing else to do.

However, one Sunday afternoon, when believe me there WAS plenty to do, I cut the crackling from the joint in order to cook the pork in my slow cooker. The crackling was cooked on a high temperature for 45 minutes. On coming out of the oven it was chopped into pieces using scissors and hey presto, the most wonderful crackling that I'd ever had in my life was created.

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