these things happen at about the same time. By the time the
connective tissue has broken down, you’ve driven off
enough moisture from the rind to render it hard and
crunchy. In a 250°F oven, connective tissue breaks down
for sure, but moisture loss and protein stiffening don’t occur
to a great enough degree to deliver a crisp finished product.
So clearly, once again, we should be cooking our pork at
a higher temperature, right? But hold on, dear, we got one
more thing to consider. Patience.
BUBBLE, BUBBLE
We all know what surface area is, right? Take a look at a
close-up of a piece of the crisp skin from the pork cooked at
375°F: