Chicharrón (Pork Rinds)
chicharrón
Making chicharrón didn’t really call to me, mostly because I didn’t want the kitchen to “smell piggy.” I’ve never had pork rinds before so I wasn’t sure if the end product would outweigh the fuss, but I did set out to make every recipe in the book and at least this recipe doesn’t have any raw pig heads in it.
removing fat from pig skin
Most of the recipes in the book don’t require special equipment, but this is the exception. You need a dehydrator to make pork rinds, something I don’t have. No one else I know has one either, so it wasn’t possible to borrow one. I could have gone this route and made a dehydrator, but it seemed a little excessive for the small amount of pig skin I had.
Instead of the dehydrator, I went with the low oven method. Pig skin was boiled for an hour, chilled, fat scrapped off, and put it in the oven at its lowest temperature, 170˚F, 20˚ higher than the 150˚ Chang recommends. According to the book, the low oven is not a reliable method, but I found it worked.
the pig skin in a low oven
The next day I looked into the oven to find the pig skin “dry, crisp and shiny, like a piece of brown plastic.” I broke it up into pieces and deep-fried it in a small pot. I recommend using a thermometer when deep-frying, it helps keep the temperature consistent. The book tells you to keep the temperature between 390˚ and 400˚. I found that 350˚ was hot enough, but it really depends on what kind of oil you are using.
dry, crisp and shiny, like a piece of brown plastic
Like magic, the skin puffs up after a bit of gentle chopstick action. It amused me to no end to watch a flat, dried, piece of skin exploding into a giant pork rind!
You need to season the chicharrón while they’re still hot so that the spices stick to the rind. The seasoning, shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7-spice powder) was found at Fujiya, a local Japanese grocery store. Without the seasoning the rinds are pretty tasteless, but the shichimi togarashi adds spiciness and kick.
The chicharrón were good, but because we didn’t have them at Ko, I didn’t have anything to compare them too. I liked the crunch and the flavour, but after eating two, I had to stop. Mike, on the other hand, thought they made an excellent beer snack. All in all, a successful first Ko recipe!
crispy, crunchy chicharrón
chicharrón with shichimi togarashi
Subscribe via RSS
Follow me on Twitter
Very creative! To taste tliek a store bought pork rind, they should be light and fluffy almost like a corn puff but made with pork. Similar in texture to shrimp toast I think.
Hi Brad,
Come to think about it, it did taste like a porky corn puff!
It’s very interesting, ohhhhh
XXXX
Ana
Ana,
It was the first time I ever had a pork rind and it was quite interesting!
Yep these make great beer snacks. They also go well with a thai/lao paw paw salad!
Howard,
Mmm, Thai salad and pork rinds…I should try it! Thanks for the idea!
In Mexico they squeeze a little lime juice and hot sauce on them. It adds a great acid bite.It’s very tasty. Like the site.
Robert,
I think lime and hot sauce would be great. I have some pork skin in the fridge right now, I think I might have to make these again soon.
What type of oil do you recommend? vegetable oil? palm oil?
I think is the best of the pork chicharon recipes featured in the internet. Some are not telling the right way…I really hope this recipe would work for me.
I eat store bought pork rinds once in awhile and always wondered how they were made. Thanks for the info. Think I’ll try this soon and at least there will be no funky chemicals in them like the commercial ones
after boiling the pig skin, can you reserve the milky water (skimmed) for the makings of a stock?
Chicharron is a very common food in Mexico, you can find it in every zone of the country whether you live in the north or in the south. People usually eat it in order to accompanny a very wide range of meals. You can make tacos of chicharron and put some “pico de gallo” (chop in little pieces some tomatoe, onion, green chilli pepper and some lemon juice and salt). It´s delicious and perfect to drink beer with.
thank you very much for the post!! im a big fan of pork rinds, would def try this soon. Im already looking at some food dehydrator option only to make these puffy treats happen. many thanks again :) :) xoxoxo
I was recently surprised to learn that chicharron have less fat than potato chips and as much or more protein than milk! Don’t believe me?????? compare the next time you go to the grocery store!