Chicharon: Filipino Traditional Pork Cracklings
By: Marelie
Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 6:11pm

Ingredients




2 pounds pork rinds cut into 1 inch square
3 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons rice wine
1 cup of oil for frying
Sauce:
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 cloves garlic chopped
fish sauce
salt
freshly ground peppercorns
chopped fresh red chili (optional)

Preparation

1 In a sauce pan,boil cut pork rinds,rice wine and salt in water for 30 minutes (medium heat) 2 After 30 minutes, strain the meat to get excess water or oil.Pat them dry. 3 Then,using your baking tray, spread the cooked pork rinds. 4 Bake at 300 (165) for 3 hours. 5 Now,set aside and let it cool for about 15 minutes. 6 Drain excess oil and pat them dry. 7 The most exciting part: You may now fry by batches..make sure the oil is really hot. 8 Have fun while cooking..you will see them expand and magically turn white. 9 You will know its cooked once it expands, the color will change from brown to white then golden brown. 10 Use a colander or strainer to take off excess oil. 11 Now prepare your sauce, adjust according to your taste (vinegar with fish sauce/salt) 12 Store them in a tightly closed container for future use. Freshness or crispness of this type will last for a week.

About


Here is my Chicharon, the apple cider dip with garlic,salt and pepper gives a perfect twist (add chopped chili if you like).. its crunchy..it makes crackling sound as you bite it....The old folks  would love it with cerbeza or beer, whisky and wine.. youngsters would love it with a bottle of coca cola. Well, I love it with my ginger ale.I always eat chicharon with fondness, for the memory of the past makes me so at home and happy.

Comments:
Alisa Escanlar

Delicious! I tried making this but it didn't expand. Now I know that I should bake it to dry the pork rinds. But I think I would bake it in just an hour. I'll let you know how it goes :) Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Marelie

Hi Alisa,
That happened to me before...it didnt expand. rice wine proves to be helpful and baking for 3 hours is a must or else you will have rubber like chicharon..lol! it happened to me also.... Good luck and happy cooking