How to make an amazing pork belly with crunchy and juicy crackling on the smoker. You can of course use this recipe in the oven as well. The main difference is the temperature. On the smoker, I used 135°C on the smoker for 4 hours. Use 200-220°C in a fan forced oven and 180-200°C in a gas oven.
Pork Celly with Crackling
This is a fantastic dish for the happy carnivores out there who loves juicy and crunchy crackling.
Equipment
- Charcoal smoker
- Cast Iron plate
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 500 g Pork Belly
- 1 tbsp Olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tbsp Salt Himalayan or Celtic
- 800 g Charcoal For the smoker
- 1 block Apple wood goes on wet on top of charCoal
Instructions
- Rinse the pork belly in water
- Dry the pork belly using paper towels. Especially make sure the top is dry which will be the Crackling.
- Score the Pork skin with a sharp knife (see pictures).
- Add Olive oil. Rub in the oil.
- Add Salt and rub it in. This will dry out the pork skin and make the crackling really crunchy.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes to let the salt draw out the left over water.
- Heat up the smoker (or oven). In the smoker, heat it up to 135°C.
- Put the pork belly on an cast iron plate with Skin facing upwards.
- Close the smoker lid over the pork belly
- Leave in for 3 hours. Remove pork belly off the ironcast plate and sit directly on grill with skin now facing downwards itowards the coals.
- Leave for another 1 hour. Take it out.
- Let it sit in room temperature for 5 minutes. It is now ready to enjoy.
Notes
Do not be tempted to cover your pork belly in foil. It will make the crackling go soggy.
How to Score the Pork
When you score the pork, make regular incersions with a sharp knife along the top of the pork. This is so you can rub oil and salt into it. This will assist in drawing out the water in the meat so that you can have crunchy crackling and not soggy crackling.
What is the temperature on Charcoal Smoker for Making Crackling
I found that the best temperature for making pork crackling on the Smoker is 135°C.
How to make Crackling crunchy
Leave in for 3 hours before turning the pork belly over. Do not cover the pork belly in foil. 🙂 Enjoy.