Homemade Pork Cracklings with Onion: Easy Recipe

Pork Cracklings

☆ 5

How to fry pork cracklings properly?

Pork fat, ideally belly, is cut into cubes no bigger than 2–2.5 cm and fried in a preheated pan over medium heat, stirred often, usually for about 10 minutes. Ready cracklings give up most of their fat and turn dry but not hard, and golden. The rendered lard is poured off into a cup, and onions are fried in the fat left in the pan: 3–5 onions for 300 g of pork fat.

Ever since childhood, the cracklings my grandmother made have been something special to me. As a rule, they were a “by-product” of rendering pork lard, which she used for frying, for preserving homemade sausage and so on. What remained was a mound of slices or cubes fried until almost completely dry.

It was a true delicacy, especially with plenty of fried onion and fresh country bread. Frankly, that is all you really need. Still, my grandmother almost always made mashed potatoes, then mixed them with the onion and the fried pork fat cubes, an amazingly tasty combination. It is worth saying that pieces of pork fat or fatty meat, fried until dry and the fat is rendered out, are a common ingredient in many cuisines of the world, both as an addition and as a dish on their own.

Ingredients

2 servings

For the cracklings with onion

For serving

  • Wholegrain bread a few slices

Step-by-step recipe

Frying the pork fat

The tastiest homemade cracklings come from belly fat with streaks of meat, known as “pidcherevyna”.

  1. Cut the rind off the fat. Even if it has been properly cured and is very tasty, it hardens and darkens during frying.

    Pork fat and onion, plus 15 minutes of your time.

  1. Cut the fat into cubes no larger than 2–2.5 cm. Sticks or flat slices work just as well.

    The frying time depends on the thickness.

    Cutting the pork fat into cubes.

  2. Heat the frying pan, then turn the heat down to medium.

  3. Put the pieces of fat into the hot pan and fry them, stirring often. The fat will start rendering almost immediately.

    Never rush the process: the frying must be even and uniform.

    Frying the pork fat over medium heat, stirring often.

  4. Fry the pieces until they lose a good part of their fat and become “dry”, usually about 10 minutes. They are not hard at all, golden in colour, and literally “melt in your mouth”.

    Cracklings should be neither hard nor soft; you are aiming for something in between. A darkening surface is a clear sign of overfrying. By the way, the immortal Švejk explained in a single paragraph exactly what they should be like, give it a read!

  5. Use a spoon or spatula to transfer the cracklings to a plate. Pour off the rendered lard, preferably into a ceramic cup or bowl; enough fat will stay in the pan for the onion.

    The lard can be used later for frying.

    The rendered lard can later be used for frying.

Frying the onion

I recommend frying plenty of onion in the leftover lard. Don’t skimp on it, since in the end there will be little of it left anyway.

  1. Peel the onion and cut it into thick strips.

  2. Salt the onion lightly and fry it in the leftover fat over medium heat, stirring often, until it starts to darken and turns deep golden.

    As it fries, the sugar caramelises and the onion becomes very sweet, losing all its sharpness.

    Frying the onion in the leftover fat until golden.

Serving

  1. If the cracklings are going to be a dish on their own, toast a few slices of wholegrain bread in a dry frying pan; that is the tastiest way to serve them.

  2. Put the fried onion on a plate, add the warm, but not completely cooled, cracklings and the toasted bread.

  3. Just before serving, season with freshly ground black pepper.

    Any fat can be cooked the same way, and not only pork fat. Where pork is not eaten, a similar dish is made with goose fat. In American cuisine there are fried fatback and cracklings, a similar addition to many dishes. Fried eggs with pieces of fried pork fat are delicious, as are deruny (potato pancakes) and potato soup. I still remember my grandmother’s mashed potatoes with fried pork fat and onion.

    Pork cracklings

Calories and macros

1300 kcal

Serving ≈ 260 g

  • Protein7 g2% of kcal
  • Fat133 g93% of kcal
  • Carbs15 g5% of kcal

100 g494 kcalProtein 2.5 gFat 50.8 gCarbs 5.8 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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