Chicharon

Pork skin boiled, dried, then fried twice, because it only puffs in the second fry.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork skin, in one piece
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 3 bay leaves
• oil, for deep frying
• spiced vinegar, to serve

Method

1. THREE STAGES AND NONE OF THEM IS OPTIONAL: boil, dry, fry twice. Skin put straight into hot oil leathers on the outside and stays rubbery inside.
2. Boil the skin with the salt and bay for 1 hour, until a skewer passes through with no resistance.
3. SCRAPE THE UNDERSIDE CLEAN while it is still warm. Every bit of soft fat left clinging is a patch that will not puff, and this step decides more than the frying does.
4. Cut into 3 cm strips.
5. Dry them. Either 6 to 8 hours in the oven at its lowest setting, around 90C, or uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight. They should be hard and translucent, like amber.
6. FIRST FRY at 160C until the bubbling slows and almost stops, about 6 minutes. They will barely change. Lift them out and rest them 10 minutes.
7. SECOND FRY at 190C. They puff within 30 seconds. Lift them the moment they stop growing.
8. Salt while hot. Spiced vinegar alongside.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes