Three words for you: Fried. Pork. Rinds.
Filipino, no MSG pork rinds.
If you are not a fan of pork or bacon or anything friend, then skip this post.
Growing up in the Philippines, pork is a staple. My grandparents even had a pig in the backyard that they fed leftovers and eventually slaughtered for a family celebration. Talk about growing your own food. If you are also an avid paleo or keto eater, you know that bacon is the holy grail of eating on these restrictive diets. I wanted to try to make chicharrones because they are a very popular snack in the Philippines especially paired with alcohol. They are a light and easy snack. The problem is if you find them here in an Asian market or a Spanish food store, it is usually cooked with MSG. Not sure why because all it really needs is salt and pepper to make it delicious. In addition, they are fried in canola oil which is not the best oil to use. I, honestly, did not realize how much effort it is to make these so props to those people that make them from scratch.
Ingredients
- Pork Skin found at Asian market
- Salt
- Pepper
Directions
- Cook the pork skin in salted water for 2 hours. The skin is light so you may need to place a plate to push it down. Monitor the pot so it doesn’t dry out. I accidentally left it and it burned a bit. Oops!
- Drain from the water and place on a baking tray. Let dry for 8 hours or overnight.
- Cook at 200 degrees for about 1 hour to dry it out even further.
- Let it dry for another day. This is important as any moisture left will not be good when you fry it. Water droplets will make for dangerous frying time.
- Pay dry with a paper towel.
- Use kitchen scissors to cut into strips. I struggled with a knife due to the roughness of the skin.
- Fry. I used a mix of coconut and avocado oil.
- Place on a flat pan after frying. Sprinkle with spices. I stuck with salt and pepper.
- I found this suka or coconut vinegar in glass at the Asian store. I paired the chicharron with some of that and a dash of lime juice.
Pairing the chicharron with coconut vinegar or suka.
