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Pork rind is the culinary term for the skin of a pig. It can be used in many different ways.
It can be rendered, fried in fat, baked, or roasted to produce a kind of pork cracklings (US), crackling (UK), or scratchings (UK); these are served in small pieces as a snack or side dish and can also be used as an appetizer. The frying renders much of the fat, making it much smaller. They can also be used as a
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Microwaveable pork rinds are sold in bags that resemble microwaveable popcorn and can be eaten still warm. Pickling pork rinds, though, are often refrigerated and eaten cold. Unlike the crisp and fluffy texture of fried pork rinds, pickled pork rinds have a rich, buttery consistency, similar to foie gras.
In Quebec, they are often called oreilles de crisse (Christ's ears) and are eaten almost exclusively as part of traditional cabane à sucre meals.
Preparation could change from using pig fat as a base, boiling, and later frying, but many prefer using a wok-like pot and wood-fire cooking.
It is commonly served in homes across Mexico. It can be served in a soup sometimes called chicharrón con chile (pork rind with chili sauce) or salsa de chicharrón (pork rind sauce). It is often served as an appetizer, or even offered as a snack at family reunions. However, chicharrones can be purchased on the street and are usually eaten with hot sauce and lime juice.
One popular breakfast is salsa de chicharron, (also chicharrón con chile or just chicharrón in some regions) cooked in green tomato or tomato salsa spiced with epazote. If the liquid is drained, the pork rind can be used in , either as fast food products or kitchen-made.
The dryness in pork rind pairs with humidity and softness in pico de gallo (diced tomato, avocado, onion, cilantro coriander, and chili mix), and both are often paired to fill a corn tortilla as a taco.
A byproduct in frying rinds is the decanted residues in the fryer called asiento or boronas (grounds). The process requires uniformly cooking rinds, and while the product dehydrates, it cracks, losing small pieces, which are collected afterward and become a thick, fatty salsa, that can be mixed as an ingredient in other salsa de chicharrón recipes or used for its flavor and fat in pan frying. The second byproduct in frying rinds is lard.
Cueritos are the same as pork rinds, but are soft, chewy, and translucent, as they are not heavily cooked unlike the chicharrón, which is very crispy. They are easily available in Mexico as antojo and sold on the streets, usually by butchers, oftentimes served fresh, but one can also find them marinated with vinegar and onion at tienditas. If marinated, they are served with lemon and salt, powdered chili and probably with salsa Valentina.
Another variety is duritos, also called chicharrones de harina. These are similar to traditional chicharrones, only made with fried flour leavened with baking soda, instead of fried pig skin. This variety also features a pinwheel shape. Like cueritos, this food is popular with street vendors. They are infrequently sold in Mexico but tend to be a Mexican-American version of the popular chicharron.
In the Yucatan cuisine, it is often served along pork belly, known locally by the Maya word kastakán, Moronga, and a spiced sausage made from pork entrails and habanero peppers known as buche.
In the Nuevo León cuisine, there is a variant called "Chicharrón de la Ramos".
Cajun cracklings (or "cracklins") from Cajun cuisine (called gratons in Louisiana French), are fried pieces of pork fat with a small amount of attached skin, flavored after frying with a mixture of peppery Cajun spices.
Pork rinds normally refer to a snack food commercially sold in plastic bags. They are made in a two-step process: pork skin is first rendered and dried, and then fried and puffed. These are also called by the Spanish name, chicharrón, a term from Latin America.
Pork rinds sold in the United States are occasionally stained with a pink or purple spot. These edible marks are USDA stamps used on the skins to mark that they have been inspected. They are not harmful.
In 2003, sales of pork rinds experienced rapid growth, but they have dropped by $31 million since 2004, when they reached $134 million, and as of 2010 make up barely more than 1% of the salty snack market.
Pork rinds were a favorite snack of President George H. W. Bush. In an interview in 1988, he admitted to liking pork rinds in much the same way that Ronald Reagan was known to enjoy jelly beans. His statement that he liked pork rinds caused an immediate sales spike and manufacturer Rudolph Foods Company had to have its employees work overtime to keep up with the demand.
Northern Thai people most often eat pork rinds together with different Thai chili pastes, such as nam phrik num (น้ำพริกหนุ่ม, made with grilled green ) and nam phrik ong (น้ำพริกอ่อง, made with dried chili peppers, tomato and minced pork). It can also be eaten as a snack, either on its own, or with nam chim khaep mu (น้ำจิ้มแคบหมู), a dipping sauce made with lime juice, fresh chili peppers and a sweet chili paste. It can also figure as an accompaniment to Thai dishes such as nam ngiao (น้ำเงี้ยว) and the famous Thai salad som tam (ส้มตำ) or used crushed as an ingredient, for instance in sa makhuea (ส้ามะเขือ), a northern Thai salad made with minced pork and Thai eggplant.
In Lithuania and Latvia, they are mixed with boiled peas and served as a snack. This is called žirniai su spirgučiais in Lithuanian and zirņi ar speķi in Latvian (). They are also usually served with Lithuanian cepelinai.
They are part of the traditional Czech dish bramborové knedlíky se škvarkama a kyselým zelím, or Raspeball with cracklings and sauerkraut.
In Hungary, cracklings – tepertő – may be made from pork or goose skin. They are usually served with salt and bread, sometimes vegetables. Their consumption is at its peak during the season of pig slaughter, as it is then when pork rind is at its freshest. It is usually consumed as a breakfast or dinner food. A kind of biscuit, tepertős pogácsa, is made with crackings.
In Italy, the outer layers of the pig's skin are pressed, dried and aged, creating ciccioli. In another preparation, pork rind is slowly cooked, producing a soft product known as cotica. This is a common addition to ragù, and, before an uptick in health conscious cooking, pasta e fagioli. As an addition to ragù, cotica is rolled tightly, enclosing garlic, raisins, parsley and pine nuts. At service, it is sliced into thin portins.
In Spain, they are called chicharrones. The dish was brought to South America where they became popular. In Catalonia (Spain), a llardó is each of the pieces of fried animal fat (especially of pork) that remain after pressing to extract the lard, so that they are golden and crunchy. They are sold by weight in in Catalonia, and during Carnival they are often also found in pastries. The llardó is used as an appetizer, as a snack, and is essential to make the coca de llardons, a cake typical in Catalonia during different festivals. Some salumerias use them to make egg butifarras, since in Barcelona both products are strongly associated to Fat Thursday.
In Portugal, as in Brazil, they are called torresmos. They are a common addition to other cooked dishes, for the added flavor and fat content, or also enjoyed as a snack. Also used to make bolo de torresmos (), which is a traditional bread baked with bits of torresmos inside it.
In Danish cuisine, Norway, and Swedish cuisine, flæskesvær /fleskesvor /fläsksvål is a traditional snack served cold and dried (compare flæskesteg).
Pork scratchings are sold as a snack food in a variety of common brands. Unlike the physically large, but relatively light bags of deep-fried skin without the fat sold around the world, in the UK they are sold in relatively small bags which usually weigh between and are eaten as an accompaniment to a pint of beer in a pub, just like crisps or peanuts. Scratchings can also be bought from butchers, supermarkets or newsagents. They have been taken to the North and South Poles on various expeditions, because of their high energy content.
There are three distinct types. Traditional scratchings are made from shank rind and cooked just once. Pork crackling is also made from shoulder rind but is fried twice. It is first rendered at a low heat, and then cooked at a higher temperature for a less fatty, crispier result, or cut from roasted pork joints to produce heavier but less fatty results. A more recent development is the pork crunch, which is made from the back rind and again double-fried to become a large, puffy snack. Some supermarkets now sell just the layer of skin and fat (no meat), in a raw form for home grilling or roasting, or cooked and ready to eat from hot food counters. The term "crackling" is also often applied to a twice-cooked variety of pork scratchings.
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