Scratchings
Chef's making giant pork scratchings today. We asked the butcher to drop off some pig skins with our meat delivery this morning. Yum. They'll be on sale this evening.
You'll notice I've stepped up the blogging again. It became apparent to me that lots of people enjoy this site, so would be pleased if I started paying attention to it again. Plus there's another group of people get really irritated by everything I write but can't help reading it, which is almost as satisying.
15 comments:
Ewww. What on earth is wrong with peanuts?
YUMM - fresh scratchings. Do you have any real cider to go with that?
I thought you had a downer on scratchings, Jeff...what turned you?
Beautiful. Can't beat a good scratching!
Is your chef from the Black Country ;) ?
Heavens, no! He's from the Champagne region as it happens. He's no stranger to pork scratchings, though. English people always seem to think their own traditional, rustic food is unique, where in fact the likes of pork rinds and black pudding are found elsewhere.
I had pork scratchings for the first time ever at this years GBBF and I have to say they were delicious. They have to be the most unhealthy foodstuff on they planet though. Basically just deep fried fat with salt.
I know that Jeff, hence the wink. You're not the only man who's ever read a book or been out the country you know! ;)
English cooking, like it's beer and language, is just another European branch of the same thing. Some go as far as to say that 'traditional English food' is just another branch of regional French cooking, which when you consider our words for cooking (stew/estuver in Old French, roast/rostir in OF, boil/boiller in OF) makes a bit of sense.
Sam, I read your comment out to chef. He didn't look too happy to see English cuisine linked to French. Zut alors.
Can't beat a decent pork scratching!
Now, a disgruntled elderly publican in Birmingham (I think it was in The Lamp) explained to me that "yer can't get proper scratchins no more, since Europe took over": his quite steadfast belief was that Proper Scratchings are made out of pig intestines rather than skin. And apparently EU regs forbid the sale of intestinal snacks.
Can't say I miss the idea much.
"Interestingly" when I was in Mississippi last week a gentleman described a similar home-prepared intestinal delicacy, only he called it Chitlins. So I wonder if that's what that old Brummy was thinking of...?
The EU doesn't forbid the sale of intestinal sacks, of course.
It's a bit like the way people in Czech Rep. claim that the EU bans unpasteurised beer, and Pilsner Urquell have a special exemption for their tankova pubs. That ignores the fact that real ale is in almost every pub in the UK (and in some elsewhere)...
Jason
The English version is Chitterlings. 'Chitterling' is a Middle English word for the small intestines of a pig, especially as they are fried, roasted or stewed for food.
Good effort Jeff - I applaud.
Jeff: it's now Thursday and no news on how they tasted. Better than bought-in scratchings?
I had some ace duck scratchings once in Perigord. V good. Pork scratchings were available as well there, but I did not see the point in trying them.
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