Do you hate pork rinds? So What. Get in here

[cleochatra]

I am a Browncoat, yes.







(a Firefly fan)

[cleochatra]

MrsLowCarb-- I have picky eaters who hate pork rinds and LOVE the chicken and other foods made with the crumbs. It's amazing how flavor changes and varies with form and preparation.

[MrsLowCarb]

My daughter eats pork rinds. I can't stand them unless they're fried, or in something like meatballs. The smell! Yark!

I told hubby about the mozz sticks idea - he was psyched! He officially dropped a size yesterday!

[MrsLowCarb]

Browncoats are smart and cool.

[metqa]

Why hasn't anyone marketed Pork Rind Flour Yet? It could be in the specialty Flour Sections. I mean, we've made flour out of beans, why not pork?

This tastes great as a coating for fried green tomatoes. Even better than the corn meal coating, I think.

If you ever make a mockeroni or any other casserole and want a crunchy topping spinkle some pork rind on top, it is excellent.

[princessah]

I have used pork rinds to make chicken nuggets and cream cheese jalapeno poppers but everytime I tried to make cheesesticks with them, the breading never sticks. I wonder why it doesnt work for me.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by princessah

I have used pork rinds to make chicken nuggets and cream cheese jalapeno poppers but everytime I tried to make cheesesticks with them, the breading never sticks. I wonder why it doesnt work for me.

try using diluted mayonaise as the dip instead of straight egg. It browns faster, but at least your crumbs will stick.

Oh, and try letting them sit in the fridge for an hour before frying. I don't know why that works but it does.

[cleochatra]

metqa-- that sounds like a neat thing to try!

What I do to keep breading stuck is to really press the mixture around the cheese while it's in the bag. If you smoosh the crumbs to the cheese, it adheres and tends to stick pretty well.

Also, if the oil is too hot, for some reason, the sticks don't cook as well, and the breading falls off.

[Barbo]

Ahhh if you hate pork rinds you just don't know them.


Tonight I got very crumby....I had a nice firm Japanese eggplant.
Now all my life I'm a fat person. Eggplant is a fat sponge, so being alway
ON DIET I could never enjoy eggplant. Baked FEH, BLAH YUK. SAME WITH
BROILED.

So.........I peeled it the purple thingy, then cut it into fairly thin slices,
not paper thin, and salted them, put them in a collander, filled a tea kettle
with water, placed a paper towel over the slices, put the tea kettle on top
and let it drain for a couple hours. All the bitter water came out and I
patted the purple pieces until dry.

Ok here comes the crumby part.
One bag of plain pork rinds place in food processor
Take the green jar of Parmesan and put some in
Put some onion and garlic POWDER in
Crushed black pepper
Herbs that you like. I like a little oregano who cares it's what U like.
Now whirl this into nice crumbs for dipping.

Whipped up and egg and heavy cream in one pan
Crumbs in another pan.
Light olive oil getting really hot in a skillet.

Dip in egg, dip in crumbs, fry in oil,
Get crisp on one side, turn and get crisp on the other.
Drain on paper towels.

EAT.

Sauces:
I put out some marinara for dipping.

DH said who cares I can make a sandwich out of this on an OOPSIE
roll with a slice of cheese, then the hot eggplant, mayo, lettuce,
tomato.

See you only think you don't like pork rinds. BTW you could not taste
pork rinds in this crumb mixture.

[KellBell1234]

Those look freaking awesome!

[LESSOFME]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

They smell like butt in crumb form.

I made the "fried" chicken nuggets tonight for the first time. Yummy! But all I could think about as I crushed my pork rinds was Cleo's comment above! She is sooooo right!

[princessah]

Originally Posted by metqa

try using diluted mayonaise as the dip instead of straight egg. It browns faster, but at least your crumbs will stick.

Oh, and try letting them sit in the fridge for an hour before frying. I don't know why that works but it does.

I will try that next time, thank you!

[SkeeterN]

Made these this afternoon for lunch! OH MY YUM. Thank you.

You are right you cannot tell they are pork rinds.

[LucilleMcgill]

I made the cheese sticks with dinner tonight. They were better than the high-carb kind. You can't taste the pork rinds. I am not a pork rind fan. The smell makes me gag.

Everyone loved them. They were so good. I will definitley be making them again. MUST EXERCISE PORTION CONTROL!!!!!

[SkeeterN]

Are different cheeses different? DH bought a name brand string cheese and they melted almost the minute they hit the oil. The ones I get from Aldi's hold up fine. What's up with that?

[LucilleMcgill]

I'm not sure. I used my store's brand and they held up fine. I'm curious to know as well.....

[cleochatra]

I wonder, too. I used the Cheesehead String cheese and it held up really well.

[teensville]

I saw on a show once and it worked for me. Fry your thieghs and legs til breading is nice and golden then on a cookie sheet place a cooling rack (like for cookies) Place chicken pieces on the rack and finish the chicken a 350 oven. This makes the pieces x-tra crispy and done without over cooking the "breading"

[metqa]

Originally Posted by SkeeterN

Are different cheeses different? DH bought a name brand string cheese and they melted almost the minute they hit the oil. The ones I get from Aldi's hold up fine. What's up with that?

Look for queso blanco. It Mexican unaged cheese which only softens, but doesn't melt when heated. Called Mexican Frying cheese. It will melt if heated too long, it looses it's shaped and then crispifies. but you can bread it and heat if for just long enough to cook the breading, it will soften and be warm throughout.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by Barbo

I like a little oregano who cares it's what U like.

[HoneyBee2]

HELP with the mozzarella sticks!

We tried the chicken strips/wings during the super bowl and they were great! I mean really GREAT!

But when we tried the cheese sticks we ended up with a cheese "explosion"... the cheese came out of the breading and decided to stick to the edge of the fryer basket.

They would have had a great flavor from what I sampled while cleaning the basket.

I read above about trying a different cheese, but I know that mozzarella should work, so it was something that was off on our part of the process.

The breading appeared to be sticking to the cheese before cooking them too, so that wasn't it...I don't think so at least.
If the oil may have been too hot what temperature do most of y'all use?

Thanks for any ideas.

[brandy998]

originally i equated the idea of eating puffed pig skin with eating a leprosy cracker, but my need for crunchiness was too great. now i like the spicy ones with sour cream. are they my preference? no! do i fantasize that i'm really eating doritos? yes! do i do a quick double check that no one else is on the aisle when i surreptitiously grab a bag & throw it in my cart, and do i make sure i do self check out so the cashier doesn't give a mental "EUWWWWW!" when ringing up my porcine purchase? yes! but hey, until someone figures out how to make zero carb tortilla chips, they're all i've got! i'm definitely going to try the mozza sticks - my dh is nuts about them!

[cleochatra]

Try freezing the cheese before frying. Some brands (for whatever reason) hold up better than others. I've found that Cheeseheads actually held up well without freezing.

[oct2667us]

oh my I have got to try this.... They look so good!!!!!!!!

[HoneyBee2]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

Try freezing the cheese before frying. Some brands (for whatever reason) hold up better than others. I've found that Cheeseheads actually held up well without freezing.

Thanks Cleo! I will try freezing the cheese on the next go around.

[Mallory]

I love the cheesestrings too! I found that the oil shouldnt be too hot or they almost burn first before cooking the inside..
I was thinking about the coating technique..in the old days when we coated for frying, it was dipped in flour, then egg, then crumbs and then rested a bit before frying..
So, what if you coated the string cheese in either unflavored protein shake, or carbalose flour, then egg, then pork rinds?? I think it would help the coatings stick..I cant find unflavored shake anywhere around here and thats why I havent experimented and posted any results..but next time Im going to try a light dusting of carbalose flour first and see if that makes any difference..

[HoneyBee2]

Oh, that sounds like a good way to get some extra crunch and help keep the cheese inside the rind coating while cooking.
Please share how your technique turns out.

[LadyN]

Ok, I tried theses and they are the BOMB!!!!!! I used my own spice mix and man o man is this good! I am going to make a double batch next time because the kids liked them sooo much.