Homemade Pork Cracklings with Onion: Easy Recipe

Step-by-step recipe

1. The tastiest homemade cracklings come from belly fat with streaks of meat, known as “pidcherevyna”. As a rule, the rind is cut off, even if it has been properly cured and is very tasty: it hardens and darkens during frying. As it cooks, the pork fat renders out; you can pour it into a container and use it later. I recommend frying plenty of onion in the leftover lard.
   
2. If the fried pork fat will be used as an addition to other dishes, remove the rind, then 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. If it is going to be a dish on its own, toast a few slices of wholegrain bread in a dry frying pan; that is the tastiest way to serve it.
   
3. Heat the frying pan, then turn the heat down to medium. Put the pieces of fat into the hot pan and fry them, stirring often. Never rush the process: the frying must be even and uniform. The fat will start rendering almost immediately. Cracklings should be neither hard nor soft; you are aiming for something in between, when they literally “melt in your mouth”.
   
4. By the way, the immortal Švejk explained in a single paragraph exactly what they should be like, give it a read! Fry the pieces of fat until they lose a good part of their fat and become “dry”. They are not hard at all, and their colour is golden. A darkening surface is a clear sign of overfrying. Use a spoon or spatula to transfer the pieces to a plate, and pour off all the lard, preferably into a ceramic cup or bowl.
   
5. Peel the onion; don't skimp on it, since in the end there will be little of it left anyway. Cut the onion into thick strips, salt it lightly and fry it in the leftover fat; there will be enough of it in the pan. Stir the onion often while frying 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.
   
6. To serve, put the fried onion on a plate, add the warm, but not completely cooled, cracklings and the toasted bread. 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.
   
7. 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.