Jerome D.
TVWBB All-Star
After trimming a skin-on pork belly to start curing some bacon to be smoked next weekend, I was left with a good amount of rind. I immediately thought to myself, "It's chicharrón time!", and decided that now was as good a time as ever for my first attempt at fried pork cracklings.
After using a knife to remove most of the subcutaneous fat, I scored the rind in a crosshatch pattern to promote further fat rendering. I salted the skin on both sides and dried it on a wire rack overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, I cut the rind into strips and placed them in the oven at low heat for a couple hours to dry them more and render off some of the fat. When I deep fried the strips of rind, the skin blistered quite nicely, and there was virtually no oil splattering, so I guess all the effort to drive moisture out of the rinds was worth it.
The cracklings came out nice and crispy, and didn't need any additional seasoning since they were salted the night before. It took all my willpower to resist eating the entire batch, but I had to set some aside for the wife, who's out of town tonight, or else I'll totally end up in the doghouse tomorrow
.
After using a knife to remove most of the subcutaneous fat, I scored the rind in a crosshatch pattern to promote further fat rendering. I salted the skin on both sides and dried it on a wire rack overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, I cut the rind into strips and placed them in the oven at low heat for a couple hours to dry them more and render off some of the fat. When I deep fried the strips of rind, the skin blistered quite nicely, and there was virtually no oil splattering, so I guess all the effort to drive moisture out of the rinds was worth it.
The cracklings came out nice and crispy, and didn't need any additional seasoning since they were salted the night before. It took all my willpower to resist eating the entire batch, but I had to set some aside for the wife, who's out of town tonight, or else I'll totally end up in the doghouse tomorrow
.
