Make Chicharrón

Chicharrón is a delicious pork dish popular in Spain and throughout Latin America. Similar to a pork rind, the crispy, crackly chicharrón is a mouth-watering recipe with hundreds of regional variations. Whether prepared in the traditional style from pork skin (which can take all day) or made from fried pork belly (which is much quicker), this delicious dish can be made with just a few simple ingredients. See Step 1 below to start making your own chicharróns!

Ingredients

Traditional Pork Rind-Style Chicharrónes

  • 1 & 1/2 pounds (about 2/3 kilo) of pork skin, trimmed of excess fat
  • Plenty of cooking oil or lard (for frying)
  • Salt
  • Water (for boiling)
  • 2 tablespoons of vinegar for every 1 & 1/2 pounds (2/3 kilo) of pork fat (optional)
  • Cayenne pepper (for seasoning) (optional)
  • Black pepper (for seasoning) (optional)

Pork Belly Chicharrónes

  • 1 & 1/2 pounds (about 2/3 kilo) pork belly with meat
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Salt
  • 1/2 cup water

Steps

Making Traditional Pork Rind-Style Chicharrónes

  1. Boil the pork skins. Put your pork skins in a large pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, and allow to cook. Boil until the skin is softened (but not falling apart) and the water is white - about 1-2 hours.
    • To keep the skins submerged in the water, you may want to weigh them down by placing a heat-resistant plate on top of them as they boil.
  2. Remove the skins from the water. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to take your pork skins from the boiling water and lay them on a cooling rack set over a baking pan to catch the drippings. Discard the cooking water.
    • At this point, if you'd like to give your chicharrónes an extra dash of flavor, sprinkle your vinegar evenly over the pork skins.
  3. Cool the pork skins. Place the pork skins (still on the cooling rack) in the refrigerator uncovered. Let the skins cool completely - usually this takes several hours.
  4. Remove any subcutaneous fat from the skins. Use a spoon or another kitchen scraping tool to remove any fat clinging to the bottom of the pork skin. The fat should separate from the skin easily. Be careful not to tear the skin, as it will be still be soft from cooking.
  5. Dry the skins. Next, the cooled, cleaned pork skins must be allowed to dry. This can be done several ways, which are described below. Regardless of the method you choose, allow plenty of time for drying - you'll know the skins are ready when they're shrunken, brown, and brittle. It's not uncommon for the process to take more than eight hours, so you may want to allow the skins to dry overnight. Several methods for drying the skins are listed below:
    • The easiest way to dry the skins is in an oven. Set the oven to its absolute lowest setting. Aim for no higher than 200o F (about 93o C). Place the skins on their cooling rack and baking sheet in the oven overnight.
    • Traditionally, chicharrónes are dried in the hot sun. If you live in a hot, dry area, try setting the chicharrónes outdoors in a secure spot that receives constant sunlight all day, checking on them occasionally.
    • Other methods for drying can also work well. If you have access to a heat lamp or an electric drying fan, you may want to experiment with these things.
  6. Deep fry the chicharrónes. Split the dried skin into long strips or small squares about 1 inch (2.2 cm) per side. Heat a deep-sided pan over high heat. When it is hot, add lard or cooking oil. Fry the chicharrónes one or two at a time, prodding them until they puff up and start to float. When done, remove the chicharrónes to a paper-towel lined plate.
    • Be ready to remove the chicharrónes quickly - the frying process can take as little as 10-20 seconds!
  7. Optionally, rub the pork with pepper before frying. For a spicy chicharrón, season each chicharrón with black or cayenne pepper before frying. You can lightly dust the entire pile of dried skins at once or give each individual piece of skin your desired level of spice before popping them into the pan.
    • Other great seasonings include various other chile powders, sugar, and Chinese spice blends. Try experimenting with your own seasoning mixes!
  8. Serve. Congratulations - you've made your very own delicious plate of chicharrónes. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately. Pairs well with beer or red wine.

Making Chicharrónes from Pork Belly

  1. Cut the pork belly into strips. This alternate recipe forgoes the lengthy boiling, cooling, and drying processes of traditional chicharrón preparation in favor of a quicker method that can produce delicious results in as little as an hour or two. To begin, use a sharp knife and/or kitchen shears to cut your pork belly into thin strips about the length of a piece of bacon. If you start with the recommended 1 & 1/2 pounds, you should end up with about 4 strips.
    • Note that this chicharrón recipe will differ in appearance and taste from the traditional one above, as it includes the fat and meat of the pork belly, rather than just the skin.
  2. Score the meat of each strip deeply. Make lots of crosswise cuts about 1 - 1 & 1/2 inch deep into each strip of pork belly from the "meat side" of the strip towards the "skin side" of the strip. Making these cuts ensures the meat is able to cook all the way through during the frying process without burning.
    • Make sure that your cuts are fairly deep but do not reach the skin of the pork belly strips or they may break up during the cooking process.
  3. Heat a deep-sided frying pan. Set a pan over a burner on medium heat. While you're waiting for the pan to heat up, rub each pork belly strip with a thin layer of baking soda. This will help the meat develop a crisp, delicious crust as it cooks.
  4. Cook the pork belly strips with water in the pan. When the pan is hot, carefully lay the baking soda-dusted pork belly strips in a circle around the center of the pan, leaving a small space in the middle. Pour the 1/2 cup of water into this space and cover the pork belly strips with a pot lid to retain the moisture. Allow to cook, flipping and moving the strips after about 15 minutes.
    • Be careful when you remove the pot lid to flip the meat, as the water/fat mixture can sputter, sending hot grease your way.
    • Since this recipe uses pork belly meat and fat in addition to the skin, we won't need to use any cooking oil, as the pork fat will naturally render as it cooks.
  5. Continue to flip and move the strips as the water evaporates. As the water evaporates and is replaced by liquid fat from the pork belly, remove the lid and reduce the heat slightly. Allow the meat to continue to cook, flipping and moving the meat as necessary to ensure it cooks evenly. Cook over low heat in this way for about an hour to allow the fat to fully render.
  6. Remove the meat from the pan and increase the heat. When meat is golden-brown and its fat is almost completely rendered, remove the pork belly from the pan. The meat isn't quite done yet - for maximum crispiness, it still needs one final "searing". When all the meat is out of the pan, turn the burner up to high and allow the liquified fat in the pan to heat.
  7. Quickly fry each chicharrón for a crisp exterior. When the fat in the pan is nice and hot, cook the chicharrónes one or two at a time until they gain a delicious, crisp outer crust - this should only take a minute or two. Look for bubbling, "blistered" skin as a sign of done-ness. Remove each chicharrón from the pan to a paper towel-lined plate as it finishes cooking.
  8. Season and serve. Congratulations! You've finished a batch of mouth-watering pork belly chicharrónes. Sprinkle with salt and any other seasoning you like and serve immediately.



Warnings

  • Don't overcook.
  • Not all chicharrónes are fluffy

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Sources and Citations

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