Pig Skin

Where the snacks are skin deep, but not the banter.

Listen in to find out how Jen and Holly throw around some ideas on how to transform the ol’ pig skin into delicious, crunchy, salted treats.

PIG SKIN - Episode 6 (Season 1) A Freezer Full Of Meat Podcast

If you’re not in a position to listen, here’s our episode highlights and written commentary:

• It is customary to eat fried pork skin during the sugaring off period in Quebec. Sugaring off is when maple sap is collected and boiled down to make maple syrup.

• Sugar shacks serve massive meals all doused with copious amounts of maple syrup.

• The sugaring off time marks the end of winter and is the harbinger of spring. The sap is valued as it helped add vitamins, stretching the food left in the diminishing winter stores, as the snow still covers the ground.

• Sugar shack meals include: eggs (chickens start laying again), salted pork (ham, bacon), pea soup (made with ham), feves au lard (pork beans), pancakes or crepes, pickled beets and ketchup maison . The flour, beans, and peas would have been grown in the summer and stored for winter use. The beets and tomato ketchup preserved after the late summer harvest. The pig would have been culled just before the onset of winter and preserved for winter use.

• Maple syrup is heated to 230 degrees to make “tire”, or pulled, maple toffee.

• French Canadians learned about maple syrup from indigenous people, and brought agriculture from France, fusing these traditions together for their Cabane à Sucre.

• Many trees can be tapped for sap: all the maples (sugar, red, silver…) and all the birch species.

• Oreille de Crisse - Christ’s ears - also makes up the sugaring-off meal and almost only served at this time of year.

• Festival of Purim - celebrated around the same time - has a cookie made to look like Haman’s ear…

• Oreille de Crisse is the same as pork rinds, chicharrons… Crispy pig skin.

• The pig can be skinned, like other animals used for food, but it is usually not. Jen and Holly chose to leave the skin on, as it protects meat during the curing process, and also can be prepared as a tasty snack.

• There are benefits to leaving the pig skin on, although the hair has to be removed, by either submerging in hot water and scraping, or flamed off and scraped.

• Easier to dehair in long strokes; same for removing subcutaneous fat.

• Use a curry comb to help scrub the burnt hair residue from the pig skin. A curry comb is a horse cleaning brush.

• Pig leather is used mainly for lining, as it is a thin leather.

• “Throw around the pig skin” refers to a football, so pig leather was likely used for certain crafts.

• The pig bladder was traditionally used as a ball, as it was sturdy and can be blown up. Real homemade toys! Pa from Little House in the Big Woods makes his daughters the pig bladder ball.

• Oreille de Crisse can be prepared in different ways, and yield a light, airy, and crunchy snack.

• We washed and scraped the skin, then prepared our pig skin in two different ways:

  • Put skin in a pot of simmering water for about 2 hours. Skin should be soft and the fat creamy, but not so soft that it tears.

  • Scrape all the fat off from the skin with a spoon, leaving only skin.

  • Let it dry out completely.

  • Break into bite sized pieces and deep fry in lard (350 degrees) until puffed, not browned.

  • Sprinkle salt and other seasoning to taste.

    • OR

  • Salt the skin on both sides

  • Place in a low oven, skin side up, with some lard, for about 2 hours. When ready, it will be browned and crunchy.

  • Crack into pieces and fry in lard (350 degrees or lower) until puffed, about 2 minutes.

• All the fat that was scraped off was put in a pan with a little water to render the fat and make cracklings, like pork rinds, but not made of skin.

• Pork rinds are a carbohydrate-free snack that resembles potato chips, popular with Keto diets.

• The crispy pork rinds offset the mushy texture of the rest of the sugar shack meal.

• Probably eaten because they would have removed a hunk of pork to eat, sliced the rind off, and cooked it up to serve with the meal.

• Pork rinds are a widely available snack found in the grocery stores.

• Skin is emergency food. Leather bound books and leather boots can be eaten in a survival situation; boiled for hours, it will make a nutritious soup.

• Pork rinds are not just survival food, but rather an appealing and appetizing snack.

• Crispy crumbs left behind in the fat after rendering is known as “Schmaltz” in German culture and can be spread on toast with some salt.

• Even the last crumbs have their place in the traditional cuisines of the pig-eating world.

• Pork skin needs to be crisped up to be appetizing. Slash the skin crosswise on roasts and brush with some fat to fry the skin crispy. This yields a multi-textured meal of juicy meat, unctuous fat, and crispy skin.

• Fried pork rinds will keep a long time in a cookie tin, or in vacuum-sealed bags. Fats do go rancid, so proper storage is key to keeping them longer term.

• You can refry them if serving at a later time. Make sure that they don’t burn.

• Try to keep the skins from any animal. It can be used as a sort of textile if you don’t want to eat it.

• You can collectively hire a farmer to raise an animal for you and share the tasks. This way, you can get everything back, including the skin, which is not often returned when they are slaughtered at government facilities.

• Pick camping and outdoor gear made from traditional materials, like leather boots. They just might save your life.

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