Chicharron - Deep fried pork belly - How To

December 26th, 2005 · 29 Comments

Many cultures across the world rely on the pig for protein, Colombians included. One of the most delectable dishes is Chicharron (fried pork skins). This is nothing like the fried pork rinds that you buy in the store in the Atkins Low Carb Section. This is not made with the salt pork you can find in the meat isle. This is made from fresh pork belly and a cut that doesnt include much meat (the meat doesnt really hold up well to the process, its the fat that counts here).

During our holiday food festivties, we were not interested in huge quantities of chicharron but a taste. Below is a photo of some pork skin that we removed from a pork butt that we were using for a stock for empanadas. The skin is in the upper left corner, skin side down.

Step 1:This skin is cut into smaller squares and placed in a pan with water and a tablespoon or so of baking soda. The skin-side is placed down and they are simmered for about 10 minutes. This step conditions the skin so that it fries up correctly.

Step 2:These boiled pieces are placed in a pan with cool oil meat side down. Keep the temperature low. This step begins to render the fat and brown the meat.

Step 3:With the temperature still in the medium range, flip the pieces over so that the skin side is down. Make sure that enough fat has rendered out so that the skin doesnt stick to the pan. I would NOT suggest teflon (high heat causes teflon to outgas toxins) and DO suggest a nicely seasoned cast iron pan like you see in these photos.

Step 4:Bring the temp up slowly and cook until the skin is crispy, as shown below. Remove and cool enough to serve.

Step 5:Once cool enough to handle, cut into smaller pieces, salt to taste, serve with slices of lime.

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29 comments for this entry ↓

1 Kalyn // Dec 26, 2005 at 11:07 am

This looks completely yummy. I have a sister-in-law who makes something like this but I had no idea how it was done.
2 nika // Dec 26, 2005 at 1:44 pm

kalyn: thanks for stopping by. I am glad the pics help with understanding how its made. This can be intimidating if you have not watched someone make it!
3 Lisa // Jan 30, 2006 at 5:44 pm

Nina,
Girl that looks SO GOOD. I was looking for a “Cheech A Ron” recipe online and yours was one of the first five. I am going to try to make it now. Notice I said try. I hope I can get close to your Delectable Picture. I will let you know how it turns out.

With Sincere Reguards,
LISA
4 nika // Jan 30, 2006 at 8:10 pm

Lisa: LOL I love that “Cheech A Ron” .. makes me think of Cheech and Chong.

If you need any help please do not hesitate to email me (links on the blog along the top).

I am rooting for you!

Nika
5 Lisa // Jan 30, 2006 at 8:46 pm

Nina,
It was so good. Not Perfect but practice makes perfect.
Thank You Very Much.
I have to go now as I see my greedy brother and his wife have arrived. I will have to cut some and put it on the side for me later.

Thank Hun,
Lisa
6 Glogirl // Feb 2, 2006 at 11:09 pm

Thanks for the tips, Nika. I’m a Colombian who grew up in N.Y. and unfortunately never really learned to cook the foods of her homeland. I guess it was probably a good thing since it looks like a lot of our food seems to be fried…But with some of your new recipes I can begin to put the grease directly onto my arteries!
7 nika // Feb 3, 2006 at 7:50 am

Lisa: glad it came out pretty much like what you wanted. This sort of thing does take a bit of practice.
8 nika // Feb 3, 2006 at 7:54 am

glogirl: Yeah.. I dont think that people in Colombia eat this all the time tho. I remember simple breakfasts of cafe con leche, pan de bono, and an egg gently cooked in these cute little one or two egg size pan-lets that are great for a quick breakfast when I visited.

Since we were on vacation everyone pulled out all the stops so we ate very well!

Sancocho and rice is a nice good meal for you day in and day out.. arepas are not fried either. There is lots of colombian food that is not fried and greasy
9 Glogirl // Feb 3, 2006 at 10:40 pm

mmmm, I remember arepas with melted queso and carne……
10 nika // Feb 3, 2006 at 11:12 pm

Not a good thing to think at night right before bed but I remember and crave deep fried arepas de huevos *sighs*
11 Anonymous // Mar 24, 2006 at 2:41 am

Hi nika! I’m Ails. I chanced upon your blog through flickr. I enjoyed reading your blog and i intend to try out your recipes. I just want to share with you how we make chicharon in the Philippines. Here in the Philippines, your steps are the same with our [i]“lechon kawali”[/i]. Only the lechon kawali has meat in it, not just skin and fat.

Our chicharon was cooked differently. We also use the fresh skin part but we do not boil it. first, we season it with a small amount of salt and pepper before placing it on a frying pan on low heat to render fat. this is done without oil or water. you have to turn the skin once in a while. when the fat has rendered out already and the skin turned brown, set it aside to cool down. It can also be kept for a few days to make it even crunchier. When it has cooled down, heat oil in a pan and fry the skin and then you’ll have our chicharon. I am not good at writing cooking procedures and vividly describing how it’s gonna look but i hope you understand what i wrote.

=)
12 nika // Mar 24, 2006 at 7:27 am

Als: Wow! Thanks for that description, it was great It sure sounds delicious! A lot of the time, Colombian chicharonnes have meat on them too. I didnt mean that the meat was never a part of it. I would love to make it to the Phillpines one day!
13 Alicia // Apr 5, 2006 at 3:08 pm

OK, in Mexico we like to eat our chicharron in several ways: We grind it and mix with tomato sauce and red chiles, then you stuff a tortilla with it. You can put cheese over it also. A very nice recipe for your guests is mix in this chicharron with cream cheese and pico de gallo and serve it with nachos. We have a wonderful chicharron soup made with salsa verde, I don’t have it but I promise to search the recipe to send it to you.
14 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2006 at 10:59 pm

Hey! I also tried this recipe! Once again, it was great! And, I didn’t burn the oil and smoke out the kitchen this time (if you tried other recipes, you know what I mean) Great job on this too. The pics were a big help. Everyone needs to try this too. It’s perfect.

Shalini
15 nika // Apr 25, 2006 at 5:58 am

Shalini: awesome! Glad this one worked for you. There is nothing more miserable than burning the oil, yuck!
16 Anonymous // May 3, 2006 at 5:55 pm

Hi, hmm, those pictures are making me hungry! I was online looking for a wholesale way to buy pork skins, but all these recipes sound yummy!

Where do you get the pork belly? Is that something you can order from the meat dept in a grocery store? Or would I need to find a butcher? I live in upstate NY.

Thanks!
17 christel // May 9, 2006 at 9:14 am

I recently had a hog slaughtered and butchered and asked for all the parts including skin, I am ever so happy I ran across your recipe, I knew baking soda had to be involved in softening the skin, there will be some good eats here soon
18 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2006 at 9:28 am

Hi there,

I just tried the recipe but must have gotten something wrong with the baking soda because when I tried to eat one of them, it tasted totally like baking soda and not like a chicarrone. They looked so PERFECT and then once we bit into them, all baking soda flavor. Was I supposed to rinse the skins after they were in the soda water boil ? Is that where I went wrong ? Thanks so much for this wonderful web site !!

Vanessa in Germany
19 Nika // Jun 29, 2007 at 1:22 pm

Vanessa: Yes indeed, do wash the baking soda off the skins and then pat them dry. So sorry they came out soda tasting!
20 Natalie // Sep 23, 2007 at 11:36 pm

Hi,
My name is Natalie and my mother is Colombian. She doesn’t cook a lot of Colombian foods, so I have never learned some of the more traditional recipes. I lived there when I was little and go back every so often. I definitely crave Colombian dishes and am always on the look out for a good and traditional recipe. I saw your page looking for an empanada recipe and yours seems to be the one to use! I will try to make them soon. I was wondering if you had any good recipes for embueltos? One of my aunts makes them with raisins, but it is difficult for us to get the translation of ingredients right. Any help would be appreciated!! Some other typical dishes I would love to learn to make are: arequipe, arroz con leche, sancocho, ajiaco, oh! and those arepas that have the fried egg already inside them…how do they do that? Sorry for all the questions:) Thanks!
21 Easy and Cheap - I like my men like I like my food « We Are Never Full // Nov 10, 2007 at 12:48 pm

[...] When preparing to bring dinner over our friends house for 6 adults, I scratched my head and couldn’t help but thinking, “What can we make that’s cheap?”. Pork shoulder, baby! The Puerto Ricans call slow roasted pork shoulder pernil. For days worth of a variety of meals, I advise you give it a whirl. Not to mention, a 5-7 pound of bone-in pork shoulder costs less than $1.99 a pound (that adds up to only $10-$14 for a whole pork shoulder!). And, if you have the time to marinate it over night… whoa, joey, watch out. It’s worth extra bit of work. Oh, and as a bonus treat, you get the amazing, crispy pork fat/skin (chicharrÃ³n) as an extra thing to chomp on. For the best chicharron results, you really should cut off lumps of the skin w/ the fat underneath (after your shoulder has been cooked) and fry up separately in a cast iron skillet/pan. You can also buy pork belly and make the chicharron only - see this great recipe: http://nikas-culinaria.com/2005/12/26/chicharron-deep-fried-pork-belly-how-to/ [...]
22 Low and Slow - Even More Succulent Pernil, But Only If You Have the Time! « We Are Never Full // Jan 20, 2008 at 11:24 am

[...] your done cooking it.Â This will crisp up your pork skin only so much. If you are looking to make chicharron by removing the top layer of skin after it’s been cooked (as I did - see first picture, top [...]
23 Low and Slow - Even More Succulent Pernil, But Only If You Have the Time! | We Are Never Full // Feb 29, 2008 at 10:37 am

[...] your done cooking it. This will crisp up your pork skin only so much. If you are looking to make chicharron by removing the top layer of skin after it’s been cooked (as I did - see first picture, top [...]
24 Easy and Cheap - I Like My Men Like I Like My Food (Pernil) | We Are Never Full // Mar 19, 2008 at 11:31 am

[...] When preparing to bring dinner over our friends house for 6 adults, I scratched my head and couldn’t help but thinking, “What can we make that’s cheap?”. Pork shoulder, baby! The Puerto Ricans call slow roasted pork shoulder pernil. For days worth of a variety of meals, I advise you give it a whirl. Not to mention, a 5-7 pound of bone-in pork shoulder costs less than $1.99 a pound (that adds up to only $10-$14 for a whole pork shoulder!). And, if you have the time to marinate it over night… whoa, joey, watch out. It’s worth extra bit of work. Oh, and as a bonus treat, you get the amazing, crispy pork fat/skin (chicharrón) as an extra thing to chomp on. For the best chicharron results, you really should cut off lumps of the skin w/ the fat underneath (after your shoulder has been cooked) and fry up separately in a cast iron skillet/pan. You can also buy pork belly and make the chicharron only - see this great recipe: http://nikas-culinaria.com/2005/12/26/chicharron-deep-fried-pork-belly-how-to/ [...]
25 Tassr // Jul 12, 2008 at 6:32 pm

Nika ,iam just starting to make this wonderful dish…I love it I just purchased 20lbs of pork belly and I plan to try to make various recipes,we have ties with people from Costa Rica and they eat chicharron alot their.How can I print out some of the recipies… Tassr
26 n // Jul 12, 2008 at 6:38 pm

Tassr: wow, 20 lbs! I cant imagine how much that is but I am sure its all going to be delicious I think the only way to print it out is to either cut an dpast the text to a text doc and print or print this page. Sorry I do not have another way right now. Good luck!
27 Bandeja Paisa: A Colombian Gut-Buster | We Are Never Full // Oct 1, 2008 at 12:20 pm

[...] Chicharrones We used the great recipe we found at Nikas Culinaria, and encourage you to do [...]
28 Lourdes // May 14, 2009 at 2:53 pm

In Mexico, we don’t call this chicharron, but it still is delicious.
29 Mike // May 18, 2009 at 8:14 pm

Whew! I got picnic shoulder today for .69 a pound. What to do with all of this fat? Thank you so much! It is so good. OMG! The simmer trick with the baking soda is a must try! Thanks!

Nikas Culinaria

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