A quick post on one of my favorite snacks to make and eat. Minimal preparation is required and with a macro nutrient composition of approximately 70% Fat/30% Protein these little beauties are a great option if you're going low-carb/Keto.
It's definitely worth making your own, its not complicated, and store bought scratchings often contain a lot of unnecessary rubbish ingredients (i.e preservatives, flour, sugar, etc).
Pork Scratchings are simply cooked up pigs skin, you can either deep fry or roast. Me, I always roast, this produces a really crunchy scratching and gives you the opportunity to render some lard to use for future meals.
How to
1. Get yourself some pig skin
2. Cut it into strips, about 10mm wide
3. Lightly salt
4. Lay out on a wire rack
5. Place in an oven, pre-heated to 180 deg C with a large drip tray underneath (to catch dripping fat)
6. Roast for 20 minutes
7. Remove drip tray (now full of lard) and turn up oven to 220 deg
8. Roast for a further 10 minutes or so, until they are nice and crispy.
9. Remove and allow to cool
10. The rendered lard can be poured through a metal sieve, into a suitable container to filter out any bits, cooled, and then kept in the fridge for cooking with at a later date.
You can do all the roasting at 220 deg C but if you want to collect the lard for later use you're better off keeping the temperature below the smoke point of Lard (182 deg) to avoid oxidation.
You can also add whatever seasoning you fancy before roasting (pepper, chilli, paprika, etc) but if you're collecting the lard for later use don't go crazy with the seasoning!
These days I'm lucky if I get a look in when I make a batch of Pork Scratchings, the mini cave people soon sniff out the familiar smell of roasting pig skin and are ready to devour them as soon as they have cooled down enough to be picked up!
