Cracklings (American English), crackling (British English), also known as scratchings, are the solid material that remains after rendering animal fat and skin to produce lard, tallow, or schmaltz, or as the result of roasting meat. It is often eaten as a

snack food A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

or made into

animal feed Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input ...

. It is also used in cooking. Alan Davidson, '' The Oxford Companion to Food'', ''s.v.'' Cracklings are most commonly made from

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

, goose, and

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

, but are also made from other

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

and from

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

, lamb and mutton.

Sources of cracklings

French cuisine

French cuisine French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a Court (royal), court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote ''Le Viandier'', one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In ...

, cracklings (''grillons'', ''grattons'', ''gratterons'', ''frittons'') may be made from pork, goose, duck or turkey. These are salted while hot and eaten as an hors-d'œuvre, especially in the southwest. Duck 'frittons' are said to come originally from Burgundy.

Pork

Pig skin made into cracklings are a popular ingredient worldwide: in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, Central European, Danish, Quebecois (''oreilles de crisse''),

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

and Spanish ('' chicharrones''),

East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, Southeast Asian,

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, and Cajun (''grattons'') cuisines. They are often eaten as snacks. In

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, they are popular as a breakfast or dinner food.George Lang, ''The Cuisine of Hungary'', Bonanza Books, 1971, , p. 92, 350

Beef

'' Krupuk kulit'' is an Indonesian cracker (''

krupuk ' (Javanese language, Javanese) is an Indonesian cuisine, Indonesian deep frying, deep-fried Cracker (food), cracker made from starch and other ingredients that serve as flavouring. They are a popular snack in parts of Southeast Asia, but are ...

'') made of beef skin. In

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

cracklings extracted from tallow are called ''chicharrones'' and are a common filling for traditional breads.

Poultry

Goose cracklings are popular in Central European cuisine. Chicken and goose cracklings are popular in

Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of Traditional food, cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, Northwestern Europe, Northwestern and Northern Europe, Northern Europe, ...

, and are called ''

gribenes ''Gribenes'' or ''grieven'' (, , "cracklings"; ) is a dish consisting of crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions. Etymology The word ''gribenes'' is related to the German (plural ) meaning "piece of fat, crackling" (from the O ...

''.

Lamb and mutton

Cracklings from fat-tailed sheep were until recently a popular ingredient in Persian cuisine:

Uses

Cracklings are used to enrich a wide variety of foods, from soups to desserts. Modern recipes sometimes substitute crumbled cooked bacon. In German cuisine, cracklings of pork or goose (''Grieben'') are often added to lard (''Schmalz'') when it is used as a bread spread. Crackling is often added to doughs and batters to make

crackling bread Bread flavored with cracklings is found in several cuisines: * Crackling bread, in the cuisine of the Southern United States is a cornbread incorporating cracklings. * ''Pompe aux grattons'' or ''brioche aux griaudes'', in the cuisine of centra ...

(French ''pompe aux grattons''), crackling biscuits (Hungarian ''tepertős pogácsa''), or potato pancakes (''oladyi''). Salted cracklings are widely used as a snack food. Cracklings have been used as a supplement to various kinds of

, including for poultry, dogs, and pigs."Use of Cracklings in Feeds", ''The National Provisioner'' January 25, 201
p. 18
/ref>

References

Skin Meat dishes Cooking fats World cuisine