Are they Chicharrones to you or Cracklins

[Smokin Don]

Jan 20 2014

I just read muebes post on Cookie’s Picnic Shoulders that got moved. I remember I wanted to check out how he did the pork skins but never made it back. The chicharrones looked good muebe, to me you had the old style not the puffed up ones full of air you buy at the grocery.

To me they are cracklings and not chicharrones even though that’s what wiki calls fried pork rinds. I always thought chicharrones were made from chicken skins. The name came from Mexico so maybe that’s why we never heard them called that way up in Ohio!

Growing up in the 50’s my uncle had a slaughter house and grocery. Most people were still using lard to cook with so he made lard. When he butchered hogs they had to go in boiling water and then the hair scrapped off. He had a vat large enough to scald a whole hog. Later on he would skin out the hogs.  I think he used the back and belly fat and skin cut into 2 inch square chunks to render down into lard.

He cooked the pork fat in a large, 4 to 5 ft. diameter cast iron pot; that was fired by bottle gas. I don’t remember how long he cooked it before pouring in the press. His press was made from hardwood and looked a little like todays fruit presses; it was about 2 ft. diameter and 3 ft. deep. He lined it with cheese cloth and then dipped and poured the pork fat and grease into it. There was 5 gallon lard tin under the spout. When it got full he folded over the cheese cloth; and added a large wood disc and cranked the screw down to press all the lard out of the pork skins.

He then would remove the wooden disc and pull on the cheese cloth and remove a large disc of cracklings. It was 4 to 5 inches thick by 2 foot diameter. He placed it on some butcher paper. My cousin and I could hardly wait until they were cool enough to eat some! So cracklings were a byproduct of making lard and we called them cracklins. You can’t find any in the grocery to compare to the fresh ones right out of the press. I don’t remember my uncle selling them but took them to the grocery to give away.

My butcher sells some that are close to the old style but I can’t eat them anymore unless I nuke them to puff up. I think I owe two of my tooth caps to eating cracklins! An Amish company sells some at the groceries here that aren’t too bad and they have the softer and the harder ones. To me eating the puffy ones are like eating  bacon chitos.

Smokin Don

[TwoPockets]

Down here we call them Cracklins' and they are especially good cut up real small and cooked into cornbread.

[SmokinKat]

My dad lived in Costa Rica for a number of years, so I was introduced to them as chicharrones.  Most of the butchers down there have a big aluminum pot of them boiling throughout most of the day, and just fish them out as they finish frying and throw another batch in.  They typically have bags of them for sale, and my dad munched on them fairly often.  They were a pretty good balance of "poofiness", so they weren't the same caliber of teeth shattering as some I've seen.   

Dad's local butcher in Costa Rica was especially excited to have me experience my first chicharron when I visited, and pulled a nice fat one fresh out of the lard for me to try.  I was not nearly as enthusiastic as he, as whomever had done the skin scraping missed a number of pretty gnarly hairs.    

Dad, of course, was insistent that I act nothing less than worship-the-ground-he-walks-on grateful for the shop owner's generous treat, so I grinned as I chewed, lavishing him with all the Spanish praise words I knew.   

And I gotta admit, it was pretty darn good, even if I did have to pick pig hairs out of my teeth all afternoon.   

[sliding_billy]

Chicharrones are pretty literally "pig skin," but what we are discussing is cracklins.  The difference is in terms of specificity.  Chicharrone is a generic term for any food made from pig skin.  It is kind of its own food group.

[TMB]

Down here we call them Cracklins' and they are especially good cut up real small and cooked into cornbread.

Yep like Ken said!

[smokeasaurus]

Round here we call em Chicharrones. I get the ones with meat on em and they taste good mixed in with a warm green salsa 

[muebe]

Don I guess they were more like cracklins. When I made them I expected them to be more puffed up like from the store(Chicharrónes) like we get here in California.

They were not bad but not how I expected them to be.

[nepas]

 Chicharrones

My mom adds them to a pot of pinto beans bout the last 15 mins of cooking.

[Pam Gould]

We have the Rudolph foods here that delivered them to the White house during the 1st G Bush's tenure. He had cases delivered. They are the soft ones tho. I had some authentic ones in Orlando last time I was there. Pork belly deep fried for about 20 minutes. They were about half an inch thick and fabulous. I like them all. I saw a guy on Diners, drivins and drives boil , 4 hours, then cut them up in strips then deep fry them and added seasoning. Might have to try that cause I save the skins off porks.  I heard he still has them delivered to his home.  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[Ka Honu]

I always thought cracklin's (Southern), chicharrones (Mexican) and grattons (Cajun) were, seasoning aside, essentially the same thing - skin, fat and meat. Pork rinds (like what you usually buy in a store) are skin and fat only.

When I make them at home, I generally call them chicharrones, mostly because people in Hawaii are usually unfamiliar with the other terms. I also boil & bake them rather than frying since neither SWMBO or I like to deep fry anything at home.  If you do it right, the texture is perfect and you don't miss the fried taste at all. If anyone is interested, I'll post or send the instructions.

[muebe]

Turtle you should post your technique in the recipe section. I would be interested in it.

[Pam Gould]

I always thought cracklin's (Southern), chicharrones (Mexican) and grattons (Cajun) were, seasoning aside, essentially the same thing - skin, fat and meat. Pork rinds (like what you usually buy in a store) are skin and fat only.

When I make them at home, I generally call them chicharrones, mostly because people in Hawaii are usually unfamiliar with the other terms. I also boil & bake them rather than frying since neither SWMBO or I like to deep fry anything at home.  If you do it right, the texture is perfect and you don't miss the fried taste at all. If anyone is interested, I'll post or send the instructions.

I would like to try it..I also found that I fry outside only. I don't mind the smell of food cooking but, It takes days to get rid of the frying smell..ewwwww.  Pam   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[Hub]

I don't care what you call 'em, they're delicious  .  The ones you buy in a bag at the grocery store bear no resemblance whatsoever to the real thing. 

Hub

[teesquare]

I think of the American-mainstream version of "pork skins" as just the fat layer that has been fried or flash baked. Pretty tender by comparison to "pork rinds" - in which the skin is fried. It can be tough an crunchy.

I have seen chicharones - packed like pork skins - which, again - are just the fat layer fried or flash baked, but with chile and lime flavors as well as others. These are typical sold in the convenience stores here. But when I go to the Latin foods area of our local flea market ( huge…feels like going back to a Mexican border town market - great fun) I can buy chicharones that are made like crackling - mostly the skin, fried hard -crunchy, almost tooth breakers.

SO - not to add further confusion….just to say that I have not seen a clear or definitive difference that is accepted by all. There seems to be no standard definition. in this area.

[smokeasaurus]

If you heat up some green chili sauce and add them tough tooth breakers in and let em ride a bit, you got one heck of a meal.......