Pork Loin (with Crackling!), Roasties and Gravy

The best day of my life.

Oh, I love a good Sunday roast. I have become very comfortable with chicken – it’s relatively cheap, easy to roast and delicious. But I decided to go out of my comfort zone and get some pork with obligatory crackling on the go. The key with crackling is to pat the meat dry, and apply liberal amounts of oil and salt before roasting. And it was spectacular. You need this in your life, I’m not even exaggerating.

I have also been disappointed recently by my lacklustre roast potatoes which don’t hold a candle to the ones my mum whips up with apparent ease. So, being the loving and inquisitive daughter that I am, I pumped her for information and shamelessly copied her technique.

And I decided that you can’t have a good loin of pork without some gravy. I don’t really eat gravy, but was intrigued by making it from scratch (not a bisto granule in sight!) and it really went well with the meat, adding depth of flavour and moisture.

All in all, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. You, too, can feel this smug. Just read on..

Ingredients for the pork

• 1 loin of pork
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Ingredients for the roast potatoes

• 3-4 medium potatoes. I use the ones with the red skins, they make some fluffy roasties.
• Salt
• 1 tbsp flour
• 50ml goose/duck fat, or olive oil

Ingredients for the gravy

• Meat juices, separated into juices and liquid meat fat
• 15g plain flour
• 200ml beef stock

Method

Begin with the meat. Take your pork loin and place in a roasting dish, on tinfoil. Pat dry the fat and score it with a knife, making sure not to go all the way through to the meat.

Brush over some olive oil and liberally apply salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper.

Roast in the oven according to instructions. There are two schools of thought in making crackling: either start with a blast of high heat and turn down, or start low and turn the heat up at the end. I ended up starting high and turning down, but I turned the heat up for the final 10 minutes to really toast the fat on top.

You know the crackling is ready if you tap it with a fork and it sounds crisp and hollow.

While that is cooking, peel and chop the potatoes. Boil in slightly salted water for 15 minutes.

Post-draining, pre-shaking

Drain and shake out, bringing a fluffy exterior. This can be increased with a tbsp of flour, shaken through.

Heat the oil or fat by pouring in the lined tray you will be roasting the potatoes in, and placing in the oven to warm for 5 minutes.

Take out, tip in the potatoes and make sure all sides are covered in oil before placing back in the oven.

Roast for approximately 40 minutes, turning every 15 minutes or so for even cooking.

After one turning

All done

When the meat is ready, remove from the oven. 

Dat crackle

Place on a plate, covered in tin foil for 10 minutes to rest. Meanwhile, tip the juices into a bowl. Let settle, then skim off the fat. 

Place this skimmed off meat fat in a saucepan and heat, then add in the flour and stir for a minute. Add in the rest of the juices and stir well, then gradually add in the stock. Let bubble for a few minutes until thickened.

Slice the meat.

Then, plate it all together and serve to grateful loved ones.

Extra veggies, because it was all getting too decadent.

Avec gravy.