What to Eat in Mexico – Chicharrón, the Best Snack to Munch on

Okay, so you’ve invited a few friends for a relaxed get-together over some beers, and are looking for something to crunch and munch on, on the side. Peanuts may not be everyone's choice and you want something with a bit more flavor and bit more substance than the boring old potato / corn chips (in their many variants). What do you do? In Mexico the obvious option would be the crunchy deep-fried pork rinds called chicharrón.

Different Types of Chicharrón

While pork skin is the most typically known kind, another type is made of pork belly. The former can be recognized by the small square pieces of fried outer skin on the surface, which may have the exceptional hair on it. For this reason many people prefer the other kind, despite the delicious taste of crackly skin. Another way to prepare it is as chicharrón prensado, or pressed pork. However, that is a bit further from the original pork rinds. It’s generally made up of small pieces of pork left over in the pot after making carnitas, which are then pressed into a form where it coagulates, before getting fried once more.

Careful! Chicharrón may not be Chicharrón

Beside all the traditional pork-based chicharrón, there is another type of snack that is sold under the same name, which has nothing to do with pork. This "chicharrón" is made of corn meal, fried to the same crispiness, and in many cases very similar looking to the pork belly type. I don’t recommend this option, as it takes us back to the corn-chips, which may be tasty too, but far from the real thing.

Ways to Eat Chicharrón

This great snack is usually not too hard to find, being sold in most markets, supermarkets, street-stands, and butcher shops, and not too expensive either. It can be broken into pieces, dipped into salsa, wrapped in a tortilla, sprinkled on top of a soup or an egg sandwich (as in the top picture), eaten with cheese, guacamole, or just by itself. The options are endless. It is also not uncommon to serve it in green salsa, where the chicharrón has been cooked soft and soggy. While this latter option is actually a cheap main course, in its hard and crunchy state it's an ideal snack or side-dish.

The Love-Hate of Chicharrón

Chicharrón has an interesting reputation in Mexico. People here love to hate it, and hate to admit how much they actually like it. Even though I haven’t met anyone who outright dislikes pork rinds, they are generally associated with poor people’s choices, only a small step above beans as the main source of protein. The easiest way to make yourself unpopular at a fancy Mexican restaurant is to flip through the menu dismissively, while asking the waiter: “No tienes nada de chicharrón?” (Don’t you have anything with chicharón?) Unless the place is a bit hip and cool, I can almost guarantee that they won’t! But don’t worry. Any self-respecting carnitas stand will also have some delicious chicharrón. So don’t leave Mexico without trying it!