Pork Rinds and Honey Nut Cheerios. That's what my four-year old son had for breakfast this morning. His choice. In fact, he wanted to put his pork rinds in the Cheerios, but I had to say no. There's only so much mixing of food stuffs that I can allow in my home.
But my son's new-found love of pork rinds got me thinking about the crispy, low-carb snack. As a child, my mom admitted to loving pork rinds, but there was this kind of quiet understanding that they were kind of a ghetto treat. Because, for real, in Milwaukee, where I grew up, you couldn't find pork rinds in the suburbs. You had to go into the city to find a bag. And admitting you actually ate fried pork skin to your non-black friends was about as popular as admitting that you chowed down on pig feet and chitterlings every now and again whenever the whole family got together. Of course, when the Atkins diet introduced the concept of low-carb eating to the general public, the pork rind gained a new kind of respect.
But here's why the pork rind means something special to me, as a member of a SpaNegro household. Black people love pork rinds (come on, we do.) and I just found out through watching a late night documentary on PBS, that it was the Spaniards who invented them! Yes, it was the Spanish people, known for utilizing every single portion of the pig, who introduced air puffed pig skin to the Americas. If you are a native Spanish speaker you don't call them pork rinds of course, but rather, "chicharones." Ah, more Kinky Gazpacho love!
Anybody like their chicharones with hot sauce? I recently picked up a gourmet low-carb cook book and found a recipe for fried chicken coated in crushed pork rinds? I've also tasted pork rinds coated in cinnamon and sugar. Got those at a Mexican bodega. Do you have a favorite pork rinds story or recipe? Please share.
Peace and pig grease!
5 comments:
I confess they are a secret treat from time to time. I always wanted to have the guts to actually buy a big 'SHEET' of the chiccarons in the Mexican stores. As I type now,I have a whole pork hind in the oven with the skin. You know we be indulging in the cracklings tonight.
Okay now I am gonna have to go and get your book on Amazon.com. I love how you tell your stories. I can see that I will be reading Kinky Gazpacho (excuse spelling) on my way to and from work later this week. That's cool cuz' I am almost done with a juicy creative writing book by SARK. Now I need some spicy reading.
Just wanted to shock you. Guess what, I am Black and I don't like Pork Rinds. Never like them, and other shocker...I have never had a pig foot or chittlins' as we Black folk call it. Food for thought. Since you don't like to generalize a group. Might want to start with your own.
Glamah Girl,
I hear ya. And save me some of that hind. yummy.
Ananda,
thanks for the love.
Anon,
I'm sorry you don't like pork rinds. It's def. an acquired taste. Just like pig feet. Maybe one day you'll get a chance to taste them and you will like them or maybe you won't. And here's the thing, I wish you wouldn't take my writing (or anyone else's) so literally. I mean there are things that we as a group of Black American people tend to agree on. And of course there are always exceptions and differences.
As you obviously know from reading my blog, I am the last person you need to "shock" with the admission that you don't fall neatly into a "Black" box. Not many of us do, but I still think it's okay to talk about Black food stuffs and the like and have people understand that not every single Black person fits the description. As every single Mexican person, I'm sure doesn't enjoy pozole, but a lot of them do because it's a cultural tradition.
I hope you keep reading the Meltingpot and understand where I'm coming from. I appreciate your comments because I'm sure you're not the only one who felt that way.
I'm white and love some pork skins.:-)
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