Although I've eaten Chicharon many times, I've never made them or known anyone that does. If you search for how to make Chicharon, there are many styles of Chicharon, none that I found quite match what I'm used to eating. In New Mexico, they are meaty, crunchy, skinless, delicious morsels that are usually eaten in a tortilla with beans and or some type of Chile. I'm open to critique here, I just made it up based on what I wanted the end product to be, since I didn't find a recipe that seemed quite right. But this is what I did.
Ingredients:
Skinless pork belly (I'd estimate 1 lb per adult)
Water
Salt
...yup. that's it. The spice and flavor comes in later.
Salt the pork and let it dry brine for a while. I did 2 hours at room temperature, but overnight in the fridge would be better. I salted pretty heavily since it will be boiled. I did 1 tsp per lb (where I would typically apply closer to 1/2tsp per lb). Cube into 1" pieces.
Add water to not quite cover the pork. The water will be used later so you want just enough to boil the meat. Boil for 20 minutes.
Traditionally these would be cooked in a disco (a retired disk from a tractor implement that has been welded to plug the hole and seasoned). I didn't have one, but I have a wok.
Put pork in your pan and fry. You didn't need to add oil, plenty will render out.
Fry until you are happy with the crust.
Serve in a warm tortilla with your favorite chile and toppings. We had red chile, onions and peppers and home made farm house cheddar.
Lessons learned:
Plan more meat than you might expect. We typically eat about 2.5 lbs of pork, we polished off every bit of 3.8 lbs raw belly.
You don't need a turkey burner and/or the wok is too thin. More controllable and even heat would have been better.
I like the very center to be still tender and fatty. These were crunchy throughout. If happy recover tips on how to brown the outside faster. Higher heat isn't an option, these already had a slight smokey oil flavor.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my long post!
Ingredients:
Skinless pork belly (I'd estimate 1 lb per adult)
Water
Salt
...yup. that's it. The spice and flavor comes in later.
Salt the pork and let it dry brine for a while. I did 2 hours at room temperature, but overnight in the fridge would be better. I salted pretty heavily since it will be boiled. I did 1 tsp per lb (where I would typically apply closer to 1/2tsp per lb). Cube into 1" pieces.
Add water to not quite cover the pork. The water will be used later so you want just enough to boil the meat. Boil for 20 minutes.
Traditionally these would be cooked in a disco (a retired disk from a tractor implement that has been welded to plug the hole and seasoned). I didn't have one, but I have a wok.
Put pork in your pan and fry. You didn't need to add oil, plenty will render out.
Fry until you are happy with the crust.
Serve in a warm tortilla with your favorite chile and toppings. We had red chile, onions and peppers and home made farm house cheddar.
Lessons learned:
Plan more meat than you might expect. We typically eat about 2.5 lbs of pork, we polished off every bit of 3.8 lbs raw belly.
You don't need a turkey burner and/or the wok is too thin. More controllable and even heat would have been better.
I like the very center to be still tender and fatty. These were crunchy throughout. If happy recover tips on how to brown the outside faster. Higher heat isn't an option, these already had a slight smokey oil flavor.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my long post!
