The Best Part, Better

Ask the Colonel what the best part of his secret recipe is, and he'll say the skin.  The best part of peking duck is the crispy skin.  The best temaki is made with salmon skin.  Hannibal found human skin to be useful for more than masks and lampshades--but variations on Filipino favorites as well.  It should be no surprise that skin is also the best part of the pig; especially when rendered, fried, and puffed.  

What makes pork skin better than all other skins, is that it can be bought without any pesky meat.  There's no skipping the butchering foreplay with chicken--and good luck with the salmon outside of Alaska.  Don't even bother trying with the sapien stuff.  Only pork skins can be bought directly, and every culture gives them a unique special treatment.

When I'm too poor for meat, but don't want to kid myself with a veggie platter, I turn to chicharrones--which are what tiny bags of US pork rinds at the checkout counter wish to be when they grow up.  They usually run just shy of a dollar per pound, and no other food can compete with their calorie/$ ratio.

Crunching on giant discs of fried skin and fat isn't for everyone.  Fortunately, I was taught a way to make them more tender and manageable.  When simmered in salsa verde, chicharonnes soften, and become an excellent taco filling.  They can even be used as a side or part of a taquiza--all that matters is that they are delicious and must be eaten.

Start by making the salsa verde, which is essentially a bunch of roasted green vegetation blended together.  A handful of tomatillos, a few chiles, bunch of cilantro, and couple cloves of garlic do just fine.  

Once the green stuff is roasted, blended, salted and has turned into liquid green stuff, pour it into a saute pan.  Integrate slices of chicharron into the salsa, cover, and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.  As the chicharrones ready, warm corn tortillas until malleable.  

Ladle the soul warming, spicy chicharron stew into the tortillas.  Toppings aren't necessary, but a little crema can help with the burn, and pickled onions will brighten each bite.  More chicharrones can be used for crunch as well--displaying the textural diversity of fat and skin.  Just be ready for luscious, porcine strands of delight.

Comments

[miss tiffie]

i'm drooling at the thought of the textures and tastes of the taco :] yum! what else would you make with the softened skin?... *mind picks you*

[Stash]

I'll experiment more and do a red salsa--none of them are too smooth since my blender is still broken. I did take some of the stew and pour it over rice which was really slumming it. I may put it in a quesadilla. Have to think over other ideas =P

[Francis]

Have you tried the Filipino chicaron? There are various versions but the ones I like best are more similar to cracklings - really crispy puffed skin with a layer of fat and meat attached to it. You can get them at Unimart.

[Tatiana]

Looks delicious! I would use the stew as a condiment for a torta, maybe on top of pulled pork. I am going to try this over the weekend.

[miss tiffie]

hahaha everything goes with rice tho ;D for some reason soft chicharrones reminds of me a softer, less chewy version of tripe. i feel like it could make a nice sauce to something... maybe steak? the quesadilla would be nice, altho i think me, personally, would want it crunchy on that... or like a flatbread...

you should try it in a soup... it also makes me think of a menudo

[Stash]

I've been told there are gnarly ones with a little bit of meat still attached and are delicious, albeit a bit more of an acquired taste. Do you just snack on these? I imagine we could do a fried pig skin and ear tour in Chicago.

Torta is a good idea--I've just been struggling with what protein to mix it with. Chicken is lame, more pork isn't probably needed. It would probably be best on an everything torta with milanesa, bacon, ham, a runny egg, and a butterflied hot dog. Re-reading that makes me hungry.

I've thought about a chicharron ragout, or even a salad of bitter greens with radishes, queso fresco, pickles, avocado-lime dressing and chicharron croutons. Could be another post.

I don't anything seen in a positive light should ever be compared to tripe. That is all.