Is it really the pig skin?

Or is it a by-product of rendering lard?

Or what?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 03, 2001

Answers

ok, lets see,, a rind of an orange,, is the skin of it,, so,, pork rind,, is,,, pig skin. Your eating a fried football

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), April 03, 2001.

I've gotta admit, Stan is mostly right. You ARE eating a fried football. If that's the kind of pork rinds you mean. Favoured snack of some weird president or other. Artery cloggin' 'goodness'.

I'm not sure if that is a by-product of lard production...I've always heard those referred to as 'cracklings', but they sound the same to me.

Another kind is preserved pork skin and fat used as fishing bait. (Uncle Josh's Pork Rinds, for example)

I don't think I'd eat any of them.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), April 03, 2001.

It is fried pig skin. They are good, but arsenic probably is just as good for you, and works quicker too! LOL

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.

If you have a hankerin' for pork rinds, the popular snack food know as "pork skins" are nearly a good substitute, and thay are not all that unhealthy either. They are just expensive... They are some kind of extruded "stuff" (grain bases I believe) that is not heavy in fat and or sugars.

Willy

-- Willy Allen (willyallen2@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.

Cracklings and pork rind (skin) are not the same thing. Cracklings are what is left over from rendering pork fat without any skin into lard. I believe it is a connective tissue surrounding the fat cells or globules. Sort of a support structure like cartilage, but it is not cartilage.

-- Lynn Goltz (lynngoltz@aol.com), April 03, 2001.

The "pork rinds" in the store are kinda foamy and crunchy. It seems unlikely to be skin.

Are pork rinds really the cracklins?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 03, 2001.

The ones in the cello bags at the store may have some pig in em, but the ones I get from the washpot pigskin stand at our local flea market are actual squares of belly skin, deep fat fried to a crispy texture, seasoned with chili powder. Combine that with a sack of brine boiled peanuts and a RC and you got a perfect Saturday morning cruising the junk stands for bargains. Just be sure to hide if you see your cardiologist coming from the fruit and vegetable stand :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.

Pork rind is pig skin, cut into pieces and deep fried. Cracklings are what is left of the fat from a hog cut into pieces and cooked in a pot until the lard is all cooked out. That is how you get lard from a hog. Cracklings are really deep fried pork fat. Poor people used to eat pork skins as cheap snacks. At the price charged in the stores today they are over 12 dollars a pound. You could by the most expensive cuts of meat. Also the cracklings and pork rinds are like the other post says as deadly as arsnick just not as quick

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), April 03, 2001.

Pook rigns is deelisush and bess when et wit Dr.peppa or RC cola. hav a moonpie for deesert!They dint kil granpa an he liv til he waz 24!

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 04, 2001.

It ain't the pork rinds that'll kill ya, its the soda pop and moonpies!!

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), April 04, 2001.

Aw come on any thing that will loosen rusted lugnuts can't be all bad.Don't have to worry about food poisoning from a moon pie.Ever see a stale one? Nope. They have a half life only slightly shorter than plutonium.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 04, 2001.

Har!! In that vein, has anyone ever seen a Twinkie go bad? (I mean, unless it was allowed to watch Tv and play video games) I've always wondered how long one would last before it biodegraded, but I think you have to have 'bio' in the product for it TO degrade.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), April 04, 2001.

Cracklings are mighty tasty in cornbread. Our meat packing plant in forest City often has huge pork skins. while not as 'soft' or flavorful as store bought do make a right crunchy snack.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), April 05, 2001.

Twinkies and moon pies are made using the original Egyptian mummification receipt.

-- Lynn Goltz (lynngoltz@aol.com), April 05, 2001.

At one point in my life, there were roaches in my house...I have a hard time eating Oreos after noticing that the roaches would eat anything but those. ugh...nor would mice...kinda makes ya wonder..

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.

pork skins are the skin of a pig and if they are homemade ethnicaly they may still have the hair on them which I find discusting. I really like pork rinds and contrary to popular belief have half or less as much fat as your typical snack chip even if the rinds are cooked in fat or oil. You can get the microwave kind that cooks like popcorn they are cooked with no fat and have less than 3gr. fat. per serv which is less than popcorn and taste better than the low fat kind they do have some colesterol in them but that isnt a concern if you are not watching it for a reason, even then its still better than hydrogenated oils which will kill you. Pork rinds are also a source of protein.

-- M Robson (qoti@core.com), August 27, 2001.