Have you experienced the joy of warm pork cracklings yet?
If not, you should.
This particular morsel was provided to us by our friend Matt, who took some leftover skin from the pork belly roulade that he and Danny were making together. Instead of tossing the rind that Danny carefully cut from the belly, Matt scored it with a knife, rubbed some salt into it, and popped it into some hot oil.
We could barely wait to eat it. Some of us might have even burned our fingers, touching it too soon.
Fresh pork cracklings are nothing like the packaged pork rinds you find in stores. While those can be tasty at times, fresh is always best. Making pork cracklings at home means you won’t have any extra added preservatives or sodium.
Do you know some people are touting pork cracklings as a health food? Frying renders most of the fat away. And there are no carbohydrates in this snack.
Still, we think of it as an occasional treat. If you’re going to be making pork belly any time soon, why not make some cracklings for yourself, too?
Here are some recipes for you to try, including a recipe for Hunarian pork crackling scones. Now that one caught our attention.
Hm. Maybe soon?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Living in North Carolina we eat a lot of BBQ, and of course these are on every menu, with a cup of sauce for dipping. You can also get bags of fresh ones - with different levels of spice on them - in the mountains. SO good. My husband’s uncle owns a BBQ restaurant in Eastern N.C., and he puts a rind on every plate. It’s my favorite part.
Now that’s a BBQ place I want to visit!