Chicharrones

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Filipino tsitsaron in foil

Chicharrones is a popular dish in Andalusia, Spain, and Latin America and is part of the traditional cuisines of Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil (where it is called Torresmo), the Philippines and others. The singular form, chicharrón, is also used as a mass noun. They are usually made with different cuts of pork, but sometimes made with ram meat. In Puerto Rico chicharrones are also made with chicken and in Argentina with beef.

The pork rind type is the skin of the pork after it has been seasoned and deep fried. In Mexico they are eaten in a taco or gordita with salsa verde. In Latin America they are eaten alone as a snack, with cachapas, as a stuffing in arepas or pupusas, or as the meat portion of various stews and soups.

In central Venezuela, chicharrones are commonly sold alongside main highways as snacks. The recipe usually produces crispy sizeable portions of pork skin with the underlying meat. In vulgar Venezuelan slang, 'comer chicharrón con pelos' (to eat hairy pork rinds) is a dysphemism for cunnilingus.

The cueritos type are also made with pork skin and marinated in vinegar instead of deep fried. They are eaten as a snack.

In Mexico, snack-food company Barcel has commercialized a vegetarian version with chile and lime flavorings since the 1980s. In the 2000s Tostitos released its own version that can be prepared with hot water and added salsa verde (pre-packaged).

In the Philippines, tsitsaron, as it is spelled in Filipino (chicharon is an attempted reconstruction of the word in Spanish), is usually eaten with atsara, a vinegary pickled dish similar to sauerkraut or the Indian aachar, made with shredded unripe papaya and pickled in vinegar. Tsitsaron produced in the Central Luzon province of Pampanga is generally preferred by most Filipinos. Tsitsarong manok, made from chicken skin, is also very popular and is eaten with palm vinegar seasoned with chilli and garlic.

In Bolivia, chicharron is made out of pork ribs seasoned with garlic, oregano and lemon. It is boiled then cooked in its own fat, adding beer or chicha to the pot for more flavor. Pork chicharron is normally served only on Sundays and is eaten with llajua, a tomato salsa, and mote, a type of corn. There are other variations of chicharron made with chicken and fish.