Crackling fails when the skin is wet, the salt is timid, or the oven never gets hot enough at the start. The meat underneath wants a slower finish so it does not dry while you wait for the skin. Belly Pork Joint 1kg is a 1kg joint, four people with apple sauce, and it lives in pork belly joint and pork belly.
The skin has to be dry
The night before, if you can, leave the joint uncovered in the fridge. Score the skin to the fat, not through into the meat, in close lines. Rub salt into the score marks. Next day, pat it dry again. 220°C for 25 to 30 minutes to start the crackling, then 160°C for 50 to 60 minutes until the centre is 70°C. If the skin has not puffed, a few more minutes at 220°C at the end, watching like a hawk. Rest 15 minutes. Do not tent tightly with foil or you will soften the crackling you just made; rest loosely, crackling uncovered.
Air fryer belly and slices
A 1kg joint is tight in many air fryers. If it fits: 200°C for 20 minutes skin up, then 160°C for 40 minutes, probe 70°C. Pork Belly Slices 700g are a different cook — 30 to 35 minutes at 180°C — and they will not give you a carving joint with a sheet of crackling. Shoulder is the pulled-pork joint; belly is the crackling joint. Shop pork joints if you want loin instead, which has a thinner fat cap and a neater slice.
What goes wrong
Wet skin. Scored too deep, so juices flood the crackling. Oven never hot at the start. Resting under tight foil. All of those turn crackling into rubber. A 1kg belly is rich; serve something sharp and green, not three other fatty pork cuts. Leftover belly, skin off, fries up for a next-day bun; leftover crackling is a cook’s snack and will not keep crisp overnight in a sealed box. Shop Sunday roast when the same table needs a second joint that is not all fat and salt.
If the crackling is perfect and the meat is dry, you stayed at 220°C too long. If the meat is juicy and the skin is rubber, the skin was wet. You can usually only win one of those battles on a first attempt; the fridge-dry overnight is the habit that wins both. A 1kg joint is enough. Two 1kg bellies for four people is a grease trap.
Dry, salt, hot then slower, rest uncovered. That is a 1kg belly pork joint with crackling, and it is a better Sunday than a dry loin rushed too hot all the way through.