Is pork skin good for you?
It turns out that pork skin is a very tasty delicacy! Even world renowned chefs are happy to use this unusual product to create a wide variety of recipes. And if you approach this process creatively, you get a unique, incomparable dish, very healthy. Pork skins are stewed, fried, salted and even marinated. By the way, they are no less tasty than meat. You can make jellied meat, cutlets, rolls and even chips from them!
Pork skin
Composition and benefits
Who would have thought that simple pork skins contain so many substances irreplaceable for the human body. They contain everything that is so necessary and beneficial for health: vitamins, trace elements and minerals (nickel, tin, magnesium, iodine, manganese, chromium).
The undoubted advantage of this unique product is the high concentration of vitamins B2, B12, B6 and PP, as well as such macroelements as sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, and trace elements (zinc, cobalt and copper).
Cooking use
By the way, some gourmets like to eat pork skin raw, just sprinkled with salt. Yet in most countries of the world there are many interesting and varied recipes that combine seemingly incompatible ingredients. This product can be successfully used as the main one. Everything will be delicious: pork skins appetizer, salad, first and main courses. Showing imagination and creativity, culinary specialists managed to create recipes that are unique in their taste, nutritional value and calorie content.
- In Mexico, they like to cook pork skins seasoned with various spices (lime and chili salsa). Here this product is very popular and in demand.
- Thais first soak and salt pork skins, then stew them over low heat and bake them in the oven until tender. The result is a crunchy delicacy called khaep mu. When served, it is cut into small pieces. Such a dish can often be found both in chic restaurants and in street fast foods. Thais also add this ingredient to add a spicy taste to salads. For example, a very unusual and delicious Thai catfish salad is very popular all over the world.
- In Canada, it is eaten with fish, having previously fried until crisp; in Quebec, pork skin is a traditional everyday meal.
- The Spaniards are great gourmets who boldly add this product not only to salads, but also to soups.
- Greaves are a dish made from pork skins in the United States of America. This snack comes in plastic bags. And it is prepared like this: dried skins are fried until cooked in a large amount of spices with pieces of pork.
- The Thai people love to salt the skins well and eat them in combination with tomatoes and hot chili peppers.
Pigskin Chips
The leather can be used like chips. This cooking method is popular in many cuisines.At first glance, it may seem that these are familiar and familiar to all of us cracklings, but thanks to the addition of special spices, pork skin chips are simply amazing. Interestingly, this culinary dish has its own name: Chicharron. These chips can also be made with chicken, lamb, or beef. Chicharron is the most loved in South America. The recipe is simple, it can be easily made at home. Spices and seasonings are added to pork skins and deep-fried - that's the whole secret!
In Peru, Chicharrón is also eaten as an appetizer, but garnished with 2 additional ingredients: red onions and fried cassava. And in Puerto Rico, chips are made as follows: first, the main product is marinated in a special marinade of rum, garlic, lemon juice and salt, then rolled in flour with paprika and deep-fried. In Venezuela, as a rule, this snack in the form of simply heavily fried skins is sold in eateries along the highways.
Whichever recipe for making chips you decide to use, the result will be a dish that has an unusual but piquant taste that will appeal to even the most sophisticated haute cuisine lovers.
Harm to health
Do not forget that such food may be contraindicated for some people. The benefits and harms of pork skin depend on the personal intolerance of the body to this product.
This is a fairly heavy food, so people who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract should eat it in moderation, it is best to use it in small quantities for making broth or jellied meat.
How to prepare the skin for use and where to buy
The skins can be bought in shops, supermarkets, in the market. Of course, they must comply with GOST and, together with other meat products, be checked by sanitary services. It is best to purchase from time-tested or familiar sellers.
To prepare the skin for use, it must be washed and examined carefully. Coarse and thick ones should be thoroughly soaked in water. If necessary, burn the bristles with gas or matches. It is better to cut the vet control seals.