Cracklins

By gnikylime

An attempt to convert http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/cracklins.html to an Airfryer recipe.

To convert from an oven recipe to an Airfryer recipe, one suggestion is to reduce the temp by 25F - 50F and decrease the cooking time by 20% (http://www.meredithlaurence.com/air-frying-101/converting-recipes/) and another suggestion is to reduce the temp by 70F and decrease the cooking time by 50% (http://www.usa.philips.com/c-dam/b2c/USMasterChef/avance_recipes.pdf)

Since I imagine the grill heats better than the oven, I'll be a bit more conservative in my guesses, trying 25F decrease in temp but 50% decrease in time.

Ingredients

• Pork skins
• Salt
• Other seasoning

Preparation

Step 1

1) If there is some hair remaining on the pig skin, burn it off with a butane lighter. Do this outside. You know what burning hair smells like. Then wipe the skin clean. The skins are hard to cut, even with a sharp knife, so put the skins in the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes and they will stiffen and be easier to cut.

2) With a sharp knife, cut the skins into squares about 1" wide.

3) In a large pot, cover the skins with water and boil for about 30 minutes with the lid on. This step renders a lot of fat and breaks down the fibers that make the skin impenetrably hard. Discard the water and rendered fat.

4) Salt the wet skins with a generous hand, like you might salt popcorn. Then hit it with a spice blend. If you wish you can season it with your favorite hot sauce.

5) Preheat the Airfryer to 200F/95C. Place the now puffed up squares fat side down in an Airfryer basket and cook for about 30 minutes. Halfway through, dump the grease that has accumulated in the basker. Then crank it to about 475F/250C to render more fat for 25 minutes or more until they are golden brown and delicious, but not dark brown.

6) Lay some clean newspaper the counter, cover with a layer of paper towels, and dump on the cracklins. If you've done it right, there will be little grease to absorb. Let them cool for about 15 minutes and cut them into squares if you cooked them as strips. Taste and add more salt, seasoning, and hot sauce if you wish.

7) You can store them in the refrigerator in zipper bags for a week or two. After then they tend to oxidize and get funky. To reheat them, warm at 150F/65C in the Airfryer. But not the microwave. They can explode!