I want to preface this post with the disclaimer that I don’t eat like this all the time. Currently my favorite snacks are, in no particular order: candy crisp apples, toasted mochi sweetened with honey, roasted beets dressed in vinegar, and kale chips. So it’s not as if I’m having lard biscuits for breakfast, lard pies for dessert, and lard snacks in between. Because I really only do that once or twice a week, and even then, I share. Sharing is key.
But sometimes, lard just begs to be made into a snack. Once all that beautiful, ambrosial liquid fat has been rendered from leaf lard, you’re left with several hefty handfuls of cracklings: little indigestible bits – crunchy, porky and irresistible. Dressed in your choice of seasonings, cracklings are wonderful as snacks or mashed up and spread on toast. In the fall or winter when I’m more likely to have roasted or confited garlic on hand, I mix the cracklings with the garlic for a classic Southwestern French treat. The softened, sweet garlic blends easily with the crispy bits of fat.
Lately, I’ve been tossing cracklings with cayenne and salt. Before serving, I’l drizzle a bit maple syrup on top. If I’m short on fine quality maple syrup, then I’ll use brown sugar or chesnut honey, which has a smokiness that pairs especially well with the pork. You get the picture: a little heat, something sweet, and a savory element to anchor the flavors.
The idea of joining popcorn and pork comes from a friend, who makes bacon popcorn for our movie nights far more frequently than we care to admit. So it wasn’t a very far leap, from bacon popcorn to the idea of caramel-crackling popcorn. The method is pretty standard: you take plain, freshly popped popcorn, coat it in a caramel sauce, and bake the coated clumps with other additions like peanuts until the popcorn is crisp. In this twist on the classic, little bits of cracklings, seasoned beforehand with salt and cayenne pepper, add a porky depth that trumps a roasted peanut anyday. The caramel sauce binds together the popcorn with the cracklings, which retain their crispiness after being baked.
Finally, a warning: for extremely delicious things like this caramel-crackling popcorn, the law of diminishing marginal utility does not apply. My fifth handful of the popcorn was just as pleasurable as the first, as was, oh, the tenth handful.
Caramel Crackling Popcorn
Ingredients
1/2 cup pork cracklings, rendered until golden brown and crisp
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cayenne pepper, or to taste
10 cups fresh popcorn, microwave or home popped
1 cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
While the cracklings are still slightly warm, toss with the salt and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 250°F.
In a medium saucepan, place the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Continue to simmer, whisking often, until the mixture reads 250°F on a candy thermometer, about 3 to 4 minutes. If you are not using a candy thermometer, you want to look for small bubbles that haven’t yet reached the true bubbling point. (If you’re not sure, err on the safe side and remove the pot from the heat when the mixture is golden brown rather than dark brown.) Quickly remove the pot from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
Pour the hot caramel over the popcorn. Use a spatula or a wooden spon to gently fold the caramel into the popcorn, taking care to distribute it evenly. Stir in the seasoned cracklings, and transfer the mixture to the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring and turning the popcorn with a spatula after half an hour. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Gently break up the popcorn if the clumps are too large, and serve.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
This is, perhaps, the most GENIUS thing I’ve ever read. Bacon in my popcorn? ohhh yesssss. Seasoned chicharron in my popcorn? *dies with delight*
I’ve never seen pork rind/crackling for sale in the local asian grocery store, but I’m assuming that’s where you can get it, right? I might do it lazy style first and buy pinoy chicharron (with the fat!), spice it up and crush it up to pour over caramel corn.
This blog is GENIUS and you’re absolutely awesome for planting little seeds of evil in my brain.
A search on leaf lard seems to indicate that it’s the least ‘porky’ flavored of them, which seems strange, as that’s what you seem to be going for. Is there a particular character to the lard that made you choose it?
Lorelei – I’m getting my skin from Fleisher’s. I should write something about how all of my offal and meat is now provided by Fleisher’s. But yes, you should be able to find skin at your local ethnic market – I’ve had better luck with mexican stores than asian. At Asian markets the skin will tend to come attached to fat and meat, but I’ve found entire sheets of skin at Mexican markets.
Aron, yes, you’re absolutely right – out of all the fatty sections on the pig, leaf lard is the sweetest and least porky-tasting of them all. However, if you’re using leaf lard in your sweets and baked goods, it’ll still taste like you’re using pig. So leaf lard is porky compared to say, butter, but not to fatback.
[...] The Offal Cook – Spread the LardYou are currently reading Spread the Lard at The Offal Cook. … The idea of joining popcorn and pork comes from a friend, who makes bacon popcorn for our movie nights far more frequently than we care to admit. So it wasn’t a very far leap, from bacon popcorn to the idea of caramel-crackling popcorn. [...]
Hi Chichi,
How are you? I’m a reporter of Singtao Daily(星島日報) new york. After watching your blog and video on NBC today.com, I’m so impressed and interested on your passion and creativity towards traditional Chinese food culture. Could you share your stories and experienc to Singtao Daily’s readers? Your story will be one of the best to talk about how oversea Chinese and the next generation carry on the traditional culture. I’m thinking about interviewing you and writing a feature story about you and the related issue. Please contact me if you could help (E-mail:catherinelee@nysingtao.com).
Sincerely,
Catherine