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–+ servings
Servings: 4 Portions

Chicharron - puffed pork rinds

Author: Per Asmussen
Keyword: Dehydration, frying oil, Pig, Pork, pork rind, Snack
Prep Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 hours 10 minutes

Equipment

  • Dehydrator
  • Pressure Cooker
  • Deep fryer

Ingredients

  • Pork Skin
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Add water and pork skin to your pressure cooker. The amounts should be about the same - for example, 400 grams each. The meat should be covered by the liquid.
  • Turn on your pressure cooker to 1 bar and cook the pork skin for 2 hours.
  • Let your pressure cooker release the pressure and take off the lid.
  • Take the skin out and place it on a cutting board with the skin side down. Be very careful as the meat is very porous and can easily break.
  • Use a butter knife/regular knife to carefully scrape away the fat. This is one of the hardest parts of the recipe because the skin can easily be scraped off with the fat.
  • I made two different pieces of skin and there's no doubt that the best one was the one from which I removed the most fat.
  • Then place the skin in a dehydrator and dry it thoroughly. Mine took 10 hours at 63 degrees Celsius (145 degrees Fahrenheit). If you don't have a dehydrator, set them in the oven at the lowest possible temperature your oven has.
  • The skin should become flexible like plastic/leather, where it can bend slightly. If it's too dry or too moist, it won't puff up much.
  • Maybe dab the skin dry a few times during the drying process with a clean cloth. The fat is hard to get dry, which is why it needed to be removed.
  • Once it's been in the dehydrator and is dry, it should be deep-fried.
  • Heat your deep fryer to 190 degrees Celsius (374 degrees Fahrenheit) and break small pieces off the skin and put them in the fryer.
  • They will pop up quite quickly. Press them down a few times to make sure they get crispy all over. It takes about 1-2 minutes.
  • Take them out of the fryer and place them on grease-absorbing paper.
  • Pat them dry on top and season with salt.
  • Serve immediately, and basically, I can already guarantee that you've made too few – no matter how many you've made.
  • Chicharron - puffed pork rinds
  • Chicharron - puffed pork rinds
  • Chicharron - puffed pork rinds
  • Chicharron - puffed pork rinds

Notes

The piece I didn't scrape so well for fat - didn't puff up as much as the other one. It still tasted great, but it underscores the importance of getting them to puff up well.