How to make Perfect Pork Crackling Christmas Decorations
Simply cut the pork rind into fun festive shapes before cooking!
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 625kcal
Cost: 72p
Equipment
- Microwave
- Scissors
- Roasting Dish
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1.60 kg Pork Rind for Crackling Raw
- 200 ml Sunflower Oil (or other oil/fat)
- 5 g Salt The finer the better (you'll need less)
- 5 g Black Pepper
Instructions
Frozen Raw Pork Preparation
- We had this in the freezer, ready for emergencies.
- The tattoo is a reminder that this was once a pig.
The Pan
- We are using a large enamel pan today.
- Add quite a lot of oil this time. We want to almost cover the rind. This will help with even cooking because we don't want too many curly bits.
- We now often season the oil with salt and ground black pepper. This creates a good base for any additional flavourings.
Microwave the Pork Rind
- Defrost the pork rind first. Do it a few times, whilst turning the rind so that it thaws evenly.
- Once defrosted, cook on full power. Only for 30 seconds at a time. Keep moving it for even cooking.
The Cutting Tools
- Scissors will be fine for this task. No need for the big guns (Stanley Knife) because the rind is nice and soft.
- This might seem like an odd implement for the kitchen, but we need to make some small holes for the Christmas ribbon!
- We like to cut ut the tattoo bit and cook as a whole piece.
Cutting the Pork Rind
- No need to show the process. Just cut it up into the shapes you expect to find at Christmas. A Snowman, A Christmas Tree, A Star and a Reindeer.
- We had a lot of little bits left over after cutting out our festive shapes. So we cut these into randomly sized small pieces.
Cooking in the Oven (Pre-heat to 200 degrees centigrade)
- Add the rind to the dish. Use a wooden spatula to move the pieces around and coat them with oil as evenly as you can.
- We find that if you open the oven often, the moisture comes out of the oven in a big hot steamy cloud. Don't stand too close.
- Stir the pieces each time you open the oven for more even cooking
- As time goes by, you will see the pieces change colour and start to bubble up.
- There's the little tattooed piece!
Nearly Done
- They are about done now.
- No need to try a piece, it will be chewy.
- Don't try to cook them too much, you will burn them.
Post Cooking
- Once cooked, get them out of the roasting dish. Put them on to some kitchen paper to absorb the oil.
- Some bits are more bubbly than others. Don't worry, if you have done it right, it will all be crunchy when cool.
- I used a thin pointy knife to open up the holes.
- The holes could have been a little bigger.
- A triumph.
Add some Ribbon
- I only had pink available, it will have to do for now.
Hang on the Christmas Tree
- A Star.
- A Christmas Tree
- A Reindeer.
- A Snowman.
- Totally Ridiculous!
