Can I do anything with pig skin after slow-cooking it?
January 20, 2013 1:57 PM   Subscribe

I made some delicious slow-cooker pulled pork using this chow.com recipe. I cooked the pork shoulder with the skin on, believing it to add flavour. After cooking, it came right off, along with a thick layer of fat. I've looked up pork scratching recipes, but none of them take into account that I cooked it for 8 hours beforehand. I'd like to do something useful with it, but I'm not sure what. Is it destined for my tummy or the bin?
posted by Magnakai to Food & Drink (9 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: yeah, you can just lay it flat on a silpat or parchment (or directly on a cookie sheet, but that can be a hassle wrt to sticking) and just roast it on high temp until its crispy. No problem.

Depending on how thick the later of fat is you might want to remove some of it. Cooling it first would make that easier. Cooling it overnight in the fridge uncovered would also have the advantage of dehydrating it a bit, making crisping it easier.
posted by JPD at 2:21 PM on January 20, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Put a cooling rack or a flat roasting rack atop a roasting dish to catch the fat as it renders. Roast in oven until crispy. It's okay that it was cooked once already.
posted by desuetude at 2:43 PM on January 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Is there a dog you like? You could make a friend for life.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:46 PM on January 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


I turned slow-cooked pork skin into cracklings with no trouble last time I made it. Just follow your usual recipe for this bit.
posted by lollusc at 2:47 PM on January 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Do not give it to your dog unless you enjoy cleaning up runny poop and nauseating gas. I used some pig skin in stock the other day The dog got the leavings. Not good times.
posted by JPD at 2:50 PM on January 20, 2013 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks for the reassurance, guys. I'll leave it overnight in the fridge (bit late here in the UK) and make some heart attack-friendly nibbles tomorrow.

No dog in our small flat, much to my girlfriend's disappointment.
posted by Magnakai at 2:59 PM on January 20, 2013


The rendered fat is then useful for frying potatoes or making (American style) biscuits, or whatever the local shortbread equivalent is.
posted by Bruce H. at 6:54 PM on January 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


If your interested in other cuisines, ChicharrĂ³n is popular in Mexico as a taco or torta filling. (I see you're in GB - torta is essentially a sandwich made with taco stuff.) Look around for some recipes if you're interested.
posted by fiercekitten at 10:37 PM on January 20, 2013


Is there a dog you like? You could make a friend for life.

The friend you make will not, however, be the dog's owner or anybody else who has to be around the dog for the next couple of days.

Dog guts + excess fat = very, very, very nasty.
posted by flabdablet at 2:32 AM on January 21, 2013


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