For this recipe you need a nice piece of belly pork from Kirk Butchers. Ask David (at Styal) or Stuart (at Hale Barns) for a good bit of meat, but with a certain amount of fat (this keeps the meat tender and moist) and if possible with a fairly thick skin. Ask them to score the skin in about 7 or 8mm intervals, following the same directions of the bones (this makes cutting easier).
Place the meat in a deep metal roasting tray with the skin facing upwards. Make sure never to place skin downwards or cover the skin with anything except rock salt (thicker salt used for the salt mill). Don’t be shy to put quite a bit of salt on top, as this is the only seasoning that you will use. When the meat is in the tray add water around the meat, but not too high, maybe 2cm to 3cm deep.
Place in the oven at about 200 – 220ºC for about 90 minutes, during this time you should have perfect crackling. If necessary increase the temp to get the crackling really perfect. Be careful not to turn on the grill as the crackling tends to burn easily.
During cooking check that the water doesn’t evaporate, top up as necessary.
The stock created from the water and juices can be used to make gravy.
Alternatively, you could substitute the water with cider, which is even better, and if you like, you could add an onion or put a couple of fresh sage leaves below the meat to add flavour and crumble a chicken stock cube into the water or cider to add more flavour for the gravy.
When the crackling is ready, remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing. This gives you time to make the gravy and the meat is more tender.