Americas Brazil is a popular snack in Brazil, usually served in bite-sized chunks. It is also a common accompaniment to typical dishes such as
feijoada and
virado.
Colombia is the term for pork rinds in
Colombia. Two kinds of exist: (exploded pork crackling), which has no meat in it and is similar to the lighter, commercial version; and , which is usually made with part of the pork meat attached to the skin. This makes for crispy skin and soft, juicy meat. It is traditionally served with
beans,
rice,
fried eggs,
chorizo,
ground meat,
avocado, and
ripe plantain and
arepa in a typical plate called .
Canada Scrunchions is a
Newfoundland term for small pieces of pork rind or pork fatback fried until rendered and crispy. They are often used as a flavoring over other foods, such as
salt fish and potatoes, and mainly used as a condiment for
fish and brewis. In
Quebec, they are often called (Christ's ears) and are eaten almost exclusively as part of traditional meals.
Costa Rica are commonly served in homes or as snacks in bars and restaurants; some small restaurants also add them to their menus as or with and the snack dish called . 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.
Mexico Mexico is one of the world's largest producers and consumers of pork rinds, known as . It may still have fat attached, called in Spanish or in central México. It is commonly served in homes across Mexico. It can be served in a soup sometimes called (pork rind with chili sauce) or (pork rind sauce). It is often served as an appetizer, or even offered as a snack at family reunions. However, can be purchased on the street and are usually eaten with hot sauce and lime juice. One popular breakfast is , (also or just in some regions) cooked in green tomato or tomato salsa spiced with . If the liquid is drained, the pork rind can be used in
tacos, either as fast food products or kitchen-made. The dryness in pork rind pairs with humidity and softness in (diced tomato, avocado, onion, cilantro [coriander leaf], 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 or (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 recipes or used for its flavor and fat in pan frying. The second byproduct in frying rinds is lard. are the same as pork rinds, but are soft, chewy, and translucent, as they are not heavily cooked unlike the , which is very crispy. They are easily available in Mexico as and sold on the streets, usually by butchers, oftentimes served fresh, but one can also find them marinated with vinegar and onion at . If marinated, they are served with lemon and salt, powdered chili and probably with . Another variety is , also called . These are similar to traditional , only made with fried flour leavened with baking soda, instead of fried pig skin. This variety also features a pinwheel shape. Like , this food is popular with street vendors. They are infrequently sold in Mexico but tend to be a Mexican-American version of the popular . In the
Yucatan cuisine, it is often served along
pork belly, known locally by the
Maya word ,
blood sausage, and a spiced sausage made from pork entrails and habanero peppers known as . In the
Nuevo León cuisine, there is a variant called "
Chicharrón de la Ramos".
United States Pork rinds is the North American name for fried or roasted skins of pigs. Pieces of fried meat, skin, or membrane produced as a byproduct of rendering
lard are also called
cracklings. Cracklings consist of either roasted or fried pork rind that has had salt rubbed into it and scored with a sharp knife: "A crackling offers a square of skin that cracks when you bite into it, giving way to a little pocket of hot fat and a salty layer of pork meat." 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, , 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.
Asia China () is made from pork and is extremely popular in Qingdao, Shandong. It is a byproduct of lard. Lard is usually sold for around $1, but may be sold for about $30–40 and for around $10. • () – The skin is removed and sliced as thin as a gold coin. After the extraction of lard, the rest is hard and tastes like a salty cracker, seasoned with salt and MSG while it is hot. • () – This is made from intestines, chopped and deep-fried twice, and used in stew or soup.
Philippines (derived from the Spanish ; also spelled ) is usually bought from vendors as (i.e., appetizer dishes usually eaten with alcoholic beverages). It is also available in grocery stores, supermarkets, outdoor markets, sidewalk food vendors, and stores (small, home made stores). is prepared by deep-frying dried pork rinds and seasoning with salt. It is usually eaten with vinegar, hot vinegar (chopped chilies or
soy sauce are added), or with , liver sauce, or (pickled green papaya). , which is made from chicken skin, and ( from its distinctive shape) made of pig intestine, are also popular. It is also used as a topping for and and in preparing pork .
Thailand , or , (, ; ), as crispy pork rinds are known in
Thai cuisine, are a speciality of the
northern Thai city of
Chiang Mai. One way of making is to first cure the pork skin, with an attached layer of fat, in salt for several days, after which it is soaked in water for a couple of hours. This ensures that the fat cells will expand, resulting in a "puffed skin" after cooking. The slabs of belly fat are then slowly cooked at low heat in, preferably,
lard but other
animal fat and
vegetable oil can also be used. Similar to a
confit, the pork thus treated can be stored. The pork is then cut into smaller pieces and baked in an oven until perfectly crispy. Another method of making the pork rinds again involves salting the pork skin, but instead of soaking it, the skin is hung out to dry in the sun after which it is sliced and deep-fried twice. Yet another way to make this dish in Thailand is to first cut the pork skin into strips, then boil them in water after which they are thoroughly dried before being deep-fried.
Northern Thai people most often eat pork rinds together with different Thai chili pastes, such as (, made with grilled green
chili peppers) and (, made with dried chili peppers, tomato and minced pork). It can also be eaten as a snack, either on its own, or with (), 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 () and the famous
Thai salad ()
Vietnam Pork rinds used to be a very common food in
Vietnam before the
Đổi Mới economic reforms in 1986. Due to various economic difficulties in the pre-Đổi Mới era,
cooking oil and meat were still considered
luxury goods, and consequently liquid fat and pork rinds became excellent replacements in Vietnamese daily meals. With the country's improved economic situation, pork rinds are no longer a substitute food, but rather a special component in many Vietnamese dishes, such as , noodles and snails (),
noodle soup, etc. In Vietnamese, pork rinds are called ().
Indonesia Krupuk kulit (
Javanese: ) is a traditional
Indonesian krupuk (cracker). Most sold in Indonesia are made from cattle skin, either cow or water buffalo (); however, in areas with large non-
Muslim populations such as
Bali,
Batak,
Toraja,
Dayak lands, and most Chinatowns in
Medan,
Jakarta,
Surabaya,
Semarang,
Surakarta, and other cities, pork rinds () are popular and widely available. Compared to common cow skin crackers, '''' have a lighter colour and crumble more easily. There is also a variant which uses
frog skin, known as .
Europe In most
Slavic countries, they are known as (as in the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia), (as in
Poland), (as in
Romania), (as in
Russia or
Ukraine), (as in
Bulgaria), (as in
Slovenia) or (as in
Croatia,
Serbia or
Bosnia). Often they are mixed with lard as a type of spread, and served with bread. They are particularly popular in this form during celebrations when alcohol is to be consumed. In
Lithuania and
Latvia, they are mixed with boiled peas and served as a snack. This is called in Lithuanian and in Latvian (). They are also usually served with Lithuanian . They are part of the traditional Czech dish , or
potato dumplings with cracklings and
sauerkraut. In
Hungary, cracklings – – 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, , is made with crackings. In
Italy, the outer layers of the pig's skin are pressed, dried and aged, creating . In another preparation, pork rind is slowly cooked, producing a soft product known as . This is a common addition to
ragù, and, before an uptick in health conscious cooking, . As an addition to ragù, is rolled tightly, enclosing garlic, raisins, parsley and pine nuts. At service, it is sliced into thin portins. In
Spain, they are called . The dish was brought to South America where they became popular. In
Catalonia (Spain), a 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
salumerias in Catalonia, and during
Carnival they are often also found in pastries. The is used as an appetizer, as a snack, and is essential to make the , a cake typical in Catalonia during different festivals. Some salumerias use them to make egg , since in Barcelona both products are strongly associated to
Fat Thursday. In
Portugal, as in Brazil, they are called . 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 (), which is a traditional bread baked with bits of inside it. In
Denmark,
Norway, and
Sweden,
// is a traditional snack served cold and dried (compare ).
United Kingdom 2016
Pork scratchings is the British name for deep-fried, salted, crunchy pork rind with fat produced separately from the meat, eaten cold. 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. == See also ==