Fun With Pork Skin

[Shelby]

After grinding up our venison and a bit of pork, I was left with a bit of pork skin.  I decided to make homemade pork rinds.  It's one of the most fun things I've ever done in the kitchen.  I know, I know probably many of you have done this....but if it's been a while, I highly suggest doing it again     

 

 

Like I said, this piece of skin was not very big, but I thought it would be the perfect size for me to learn on.

 

 

 

I used kitchen shears to cut the skin in to small squares.  I wouldn't do them bigger than this because they really puff up when you fry them.

 

 

Next I brought a pot of water to boiling and placed the skins in for a little over an hour.  They curl up a little after boiling.

 

I put the boiled skins in a ziplock and let them rest in the fridge over night so that the fat under the skin would congeal which makes it easier to scrape off.  See the white part?  That's the part you want to remove from the skin.    

 

All scraped 

 

 

I was left with a pile of fat that I'm going to render down this evening.

 

 

 

All loaded in the dehydrator

 

 

Done!  I dehydrated them for about 10-11 hours at 155 degrees F.  At this point you can store them in a bag in the fridge for quite a long time.

 

 

Last night I decided to fry them to see if I got everything dry enough.....and, I just couldn't wait any longer to taste them 

 

I heated the oil to 400 degrees F and in they went

 

 

POOF!  These are SO fun to fry.

 

 

I seasoned them with Tony's and happily munched away 

 

 

I had to test them you see because my husband came home with these

 

 

 

So, I will be doing this process again today hopefully to have them dried in time for some Super Bowl snacking.  Oh, and I'll have a lot more fat to render too.

 

Something fun to do on this rainy Saturday 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  I might have eaten a couple of pieces after I took them out of the boiling water.....pretty tasty with some salt and pepper........

Edited January 31, 2015 by Shelby (log)

[btbyrd]

Very nice! I wish my spouse would come home with that sort of surprise!

 

I've been wanting to make these for a while but I don't have a dehydrator (I doubt I'd use it much) and am reluctant to use my crappy oven for the purpose... so I guess I'll have to stick with fresh ones from the local Mexican mart for now. On a related note, pork skin can

instead of frying. So you could dehydrate a bunch of them, keep them on hand, and puff them on demand without the need for oil -- most convenient! I wonder how well seasoning would adhere to them given that they wouldn't be coated in oil.

[ninagluck]

Shelby, if you dice them into smaller pieces before hydrating, you can coat anything with the small bits. I once did it with squid, so good!

[dcarch]

Pork shoulders were on sale at $0.90 a lb. Got a ton of them. :-)

 

So cut them up for the freezer. The big bones were also frozen. They were sawed on my table saw into small pieces for stock and marrow.

 

Now pork skin!

 

I did basically the same as you Shelby, except:

 

1. Fat was scrape off in one piece. Easier and faster.

 

2. The whole skin was put into the dehydrator. After drying, I just crack it into little pieces. Saves room in the dehydrator and faster. 

 

3. I put the fried puffed cracklings in a plastic container, sprinkled some seasoning on them and shake, shake, shake. More even coverage, and a lot less seasoning was needed.

 

Yep. Superbowl. Actually not bad for health, basically not much fat at all, fried in vegetable oil.

 

dcarch

[Shelby]

Very nice! I wish my spouse would come home with that sort of surprise!

 

I've been wanting to make these for a while but I don't have a dehydrator (I doubt I'd use it much) and am reluctant to use my crappy oven for the purpose... so I guess I'll have to stick with fresh ones from the local Mexican mart for now. On a related note, pork skin can

instead of frying. So you could dehydrate a bunch of them, keep them on hand, and puff them on demand without the need for oil -- most convenient! I wonder how well seasoning would adhere to them given that they wouldn't be coated in oil.

[Shelby]

I just opened my first package of skin.   Looks like a few of the pork rinds are going to be a bit nippily LOL

 

[ninagluck]

Shelby, I did a coating like for a schnitzel, just instead the breadcrumbs pork rind

[Shelby]

Next pan ready to boil.  My hands are SORE.  Pig skin is tough to cut.  The pieces got a bit bigger towards the end lol.  These pig skins have FAR more fat so I'll have a ton to render.  I guess this means I really, truly have to learn to make a decent pie crust. 

 

[ninagluck]

Shelby, if you have a vacuum sealer, put them there and cook them sous vide and cut after

[IowaDee]

Oooh Shelby those sure look "succulent" don't they!

[Franci]

Shelby, if you have a vacuum sealer, put them there and cook them sous vide and cut after

 

Nina, how long to you cook and for how long?

[liuzhou]

Ever tried pig skin jelly?

[SylviaLovegren]

Shouldn't you fry the skins in the rendered fat?  Just seems more economical. 

[rotuts]

what is " Tony's " ?

 

and Ive forgotten what a rainy day is like

Edited February 2, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Shelby]

Ever tried pig skin jelly?

That looks really good!  I am doing that next time with some.  Thank you!

 

Shouldn't you fry the skins in the rendered fat?  Just seems more economical. 

 

It does! 

what is " Tony's " ?

 

and Ive forgotten what a rainy day is like

Tony's is a slightly spicy cajun seasoning.

 

http://www.tonychachere.com

[KennethT]

I haven't made puffed pork rinds in a while, but when I did, I would either boil the skin whole, or pressure cook it. You're right, Shelby, cutting raw pork skin is tough! Much easier to cut once cooked... also like dcarch said, it's faster to scrape the fat off the whole piece.

I used to fry in peanut oil (it's the only oil I keep a large enough quantity to deep fry in) which was very tasty.... as for the dehydrating step, I'm jealous of your dehydrator - I've used my crappy gas oven - always a pita...

If you don't want to fry, I've read that you can puff the dehydrated skins in the microwave. I've tried it before, but my initial tests were not nearly as puffy, crispy and light as when I fried them.

[takadi]

I tried this method a while back and my rinds turned out really chewy on the inside. What did I do wrong?

[KennethT]

That's happened to me before - I think it's because they weren't dehydrated enough... excess moisture will keep them from puffing fully... but then again, they also won't puff if they're not boiled enough. After the boiling step, the skin when hot should be VERY fragile. If it's not, then it's not done.

[dcarch]

I tried this method a while back and my rinds turned out really chewy on the inside. What did I do wrong?

 

You don't need to have a sheepskin to make great pork skin. 

 

1. Cook the skin well. Remove all fat.

 

2. Dry the skin 100%  (12 hours in a dehydrator)

 

3. 400F heat.

 

dcarch

 

Edited February 4, 2015 by dcarch (log)

[Shelby]

How in the world did you make the spirals?  Very cool! 

[Shelby]

Guess what I'm doing today?

 

[dcarch]

How in the world did you make the spirals?  Very cool! 

 

Sorry! Didn't see your question until today.

 

Simple. Real simple. Makes snacking more enjoyable, especially when you have friends.

 

After boiling, roll the skin into a roll and refrigerate. (not freeze).

 

Next day, slice the rolls into thin slices and dehydrate, etc.

 

dcarch