Pork Rinds

The Best Pork Rinds

Truthfully, making Pork Rinds isn’t all that difficult to do but it is quite a time consuming process and one that you might rather avoid if you don’t mind buying a bag of fried pig skins or cracklings, instead.  I say that, mostly, because you don’t save any money, doing it yourself, and cooking these fresh doesn’t seem to improve the taste or flavor, in my opinion.  I like to eat Pork Rinds as much as anyone, so don’t take my thoughts the wrong way.  Just know that I’d rather just buy a premade bag instead of making them myself, next time(unless I have skin I don’t want to go to waste).  So if nothing else, you can at least learn how it’s done and hopefully enjoy this post, recipe and the work I put in to making the Pork Rinds video.

Purchasing Skins for Pork Rinds

As you can see, in the photo above, I purchased my Skins, to make Pork Rinds, from my local Asian Market.  Skins usually come from the Belly side of the pig, where the the bacon is removed.  So there’s generally a ton of fat associated with the cuts.  I paid $2 dollars a pound, for this package, so I didn’t really save any money vs. buying a premade bag of Pork Rinds.  But, because the fat was already removed I didn’t get charged for all the extra weight.  Though, I’m sure if it were still attached, the price would’ve been altered accordingly.  Regardless, you should be able to purchase pig skin from any butcher that sells pork.

Making Pork Rinds

As I mentioned before, making Pork Rinds is time consuming and quite tedious.  Even though the majority of the fat content was removed from the skins, the skin needs to be boiled and scraped to ensure that all of the fat is gone.  And it’s best to boil the skins whole, before cutting and slicing them into portions.  This way you can do it in large sheets instead of individual 1 inch pieces.  Removing the fat, completely, helps to aerate the skin when it bakes and helps the Rinds fluff up more when they’re frying.  In the video, I Boil the Pork Rinds for 30 minutes, strain and then baked them, on low, for approximately 4 hours before frying.  Then once they are removed from the oven, they can be dropped in a deep fryer set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for 2 minutes.

Fried Pork Rinds

A few things you need to consider, when making Pork Rinds, is that there are several different ways you can screw these up.  If you’ve ever bitten into a pork rind that just about broke your tooth or was just too hard to chew, then you need to pay attention to a few things.  First, cut off tough and discolored edges that seem dried out and pleathery.  Second, again, be sure to scrape out the fat.  And third, be sure to remove all of the pieces that that didn’t puff up in the fryer.  You follow those three easy steps and all of your teeth will stay intact.

As far as seasonings go, anything with onion and garlic powder in them is generally a good way to go but you can use ranch powder, adobo, pico de gallo or just plain old salt and pepper.

Pork Rinds Ingredients:

2 lbs Pig Skin
2 Quarts Water
1/4 cup Salt
Oil for Frying
You’re Favorite Seasoning

Be sure to remove all of the fat from the skin, boil the skin for 30 minutes, bake the skins on low for 2 to 4 hours and
deep fry the skins at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 2 minutes. Place the Pork Rinds on paper towels and
season with your favorite seasoning or salt.

American Greek Gyro

The Best Greek Gyro is Here!

A Greek Gyro is great way to celebrate a food.  Not only are they great tacos, they’re 3 times the size of a street taco and, considered by some, much more like a sandwich.  The basic shell is a flat bread called, Pita and the meat and filling can vary but traditionally the vegetables are consistently the same; lettuce, tomato and red onion.  The one thing that is absolutely irreplaceable, however, is the Tzatziki Sauce and it is the secret sauce added to every gyro.

Greek Gyro Meat

Believe it or not, an authentic Greek Gyro isn’t made with Beef and Lamb or even Veil, for that matter.  Recipes that have those mixed meats originated outside of Greece.  The Greeks use a an intensified marinated pork that cooks rotisserie style.  This enables the cook to trim a just little bit off the outside at a time for each Taco as the rest of the meat continues to cook towards the middle.  The meat is sliced thin to begin with, so the trimmings from the outside tend to be very tender. And, thanks to the Marinade, very tasty.

In this recipe, I use a 1/2 pound steak cut from a Beef Chuck and 2 quarter pound Lamb Chops cut from a shoulder and I run the cuts through a meat grinder, using a large die.  This gives me 1 lbs of ground meat to marinate.

Greek Gyro Marinade

Though the mixture of Ground Beef and Lamb can be very tasty, it isn’t enough flavor to stand alone in a Greek Gyro.  A marinade must be added.  The marinade I used in my Pork Gyro recipe works great in this one is well.  The only real difference is that I cut the ingredients down because there’s less meat to season.  Also, marinating the meat itself for a time isn’t necessary.  You can cook it as soon as everything is mixed in and incorporated.

Greek Gyro Ingredients:

1/2 lbs Beef Chuck Steak, ground
1/2 lbs Lamb Chops, ground

Marinade
1/4 Red Onion, grated
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Rosemary
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings
Tzatziki Sauce, Click Here for Recipe
Baby Spinach or Lettuce
Tomato, diced
Red Onion, diced

Depending on your filling, you Should be able to get 6-8 Gyros from this recipe.

Beef Bone Broth

Easy Beef Bone Broth

Try to say that 5 times real fast, “Easy Beef Bone Broth Base”, and I bet you get tongue tied.  But, having a good broth on hand will not only enhance the flavor of the food, it will nourish and strengthen your body more.  There are so many healthy benefits to consuming homemade bone broth, I’m not even going to get into it.  Just know that many recipes, that call for water, are usually getting replaced with broth or stock because Chefs know how much more body and flavor a dish has when its prepared with it.  But there are many different ways Beef Broth can be prepared because so many different cultures use different seasoning and spice, so I’m just going to show you how to make a good base.

Raw or Roasted Beef Bone Broth

If you’re going to make a real good Beef Bone Broth, you really need a good balance between both Raw and Roasted beef bones.  The Raw bones provide more nutrients and the roasted beef bones provide more flavor.  Either way, the body will benefit from the minerals and compounds that support your immune system.  The collagen alone heals your stomach lining and reduces inflammation in the intestine. And if you want even more flavor, you can roast the vegetables, beforehand, as well.  The Roasted Beef Bones come from the Bone Marrow recipe I filmed and posted last week.  So if you want to know how to cook the bones, take a look at that HERE!

Seasoning Beef Bone Broth

As I mentioned before, this Beef Bone Broth recipe is just the very base of Beef Broth.  I’ve completely left out the seasoning because I don’t know what you’re making and I don’t know what herbs and spices you need to make your dish.  Some cultures add ginger or turmeric and some add other herbs and spices or both.  Just know that this base is the best start that anyone can offer and you can season your broth to your specific needs and tastes.  This broth can be refrigerated for several days or several months if you freeze it.

Beef Bone Broth Ingredients:

5 lbs Beef Bones, roasted
2 Gallons Water, more as needed
1 Onion
2 Carrots
1 bunch Parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste and add other ingredients to suit your specific recipe needs.