Pork scratchings - classic or dud?

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This was the subject of much fevered debate in the pub yesterday.

Also, side question. The Soggy Bit - C/D?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Dud and Dud. There is no excuse for these objects.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Scratchings - Classic

The soggy bit - Dud

Big Pig hairs sticking out - Dud

― Davel, Monday, 27 October 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The most wonderful pub snack in all the world, a true prince. I flucking love 'em, the hairier the better, and best from a plain plastic bag, and plenty of salty soggy bit too.

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a bit squeamish about the hairs too, but otherwise, classic.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I say classic, especially the soggy bit. The combination of incredible hardness and nummy softness is one of the best things about them.

and of course like all the best bar snacks, they are *incredibly* salty, which --> more beer being drunk - good news for publicans and punters alike!

but a word of warning, avoid the little bags of pork scratchings made by KP or Peak Freans or whoever, the ones which share the cardboard backing occupied by peanuts and scampi fries. These are mingy and overpriced. The ones to go for are the HUGE pork scratchings in the clear plastic bags with red lettering. I'm afraid I don't know the name of the brand, but they are quite widely available in Oxford.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

those aren't hairs they're straws to suck the soggy bit through

they only took off once the early brand-name was dropped: DELICIOUS CRISPY PORK LESIONS

classic

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Note to non-Brits, pork scratchings are a pub snack made of bits of dried-out crackling/pork rind and covered in synthetic pork flavouring. When you bite into a big one you get a mouthful of moist pork fat.

I am a big fan of the soggy bit, but draw the line at hair. The ones I had yesterday were, mercifully, bald.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

a Polish friend now resident in the UK thinks pork scratchings are one of the best things about living here! She is addicted to them!

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I was exaggerating slightly re: the hairs, but they're no problem at all really.

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

http://web.bham.ac.uk/s.m.stocks.cen/Scratchins/FreshersPUBOriginalPorkScratchings.htm.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe I've been spoiled by the halcyon days of yore wherein a cheery man would come round the pubs selling little trays of prawns and cockles = true pub food of the gods. Nevertheless Pork Scratchings are still revolting (though I loved the packet of the ones you used to get in the pub where I worked which was plain white with the word PIG in great big letters).

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

the cheery little man with the prawns and cockles has obv been killed and eaten by the scary woman who comes round selling roses for charity.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Chris where do you get the ones in the plain plastic bag from? I was trying to poke my brains over a tiny pack of KP scratchings the other day and the only place that sprung to mind was somewhere near Charing Cross. FAP makes me think it could've been the Nell Gwynne but that name doesn't seem too familiar to me.

CLASSIC!

― Sarah (starry), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

never tried them, don't really want to

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Like cocaine, then?

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Except hairy.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Far inferior to a bag of crisps ripped down the middle.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 27 October 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Pork scratchings=cocaine : OTM.

Pork Scratchings I like, although for some reason, I never go for them. I alwsy go for Prawn Cocktail crisps instead.

Soggy bit = classic. I would say the best bit - otherwise, it would get FAR to monotonous.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 27 October 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

There is a whole branch of food which I call Pork Scratching foods. This because they are all num-num but if you think a little to much about them, you immediately want to vomit to expel the (now perceived as disgusting) contents of your stomach.

The KP ones aren't real in my book. They're more like Porky Quavers with fatty substance glued onto them. The do not rock, or rule. There is a golden rule of Pork Scratchings - the cheaper and more piss-poor the packaging, the better the product. They should be ideally have no identifying marks to emphasise the rustic days of your element here - no 'who made these, then?' and 'what's the breakdown of ingredients as per EY regulations'. They are simply Pork Scratchings, no more, no less.

On the hair issue, I don't care. I'm not a big fan on the crispy crackle though - sometimes, it's just too crackly = uncrunchable without loss of teeth. The soft fatty bit is the best though by a country mile. Also to be avoided are the darkened bits where it becomes gnarled. I fear what this is, having heard a story about what makes the legs on supermarket Cajun style chicken browned.

On the whole, total classic. Thumbs up from me.

― Dave B (daveb), Monday, 27 October 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Apologies for the typos. I'm sure you can decipher it. I was shaking with anticipation at the thought of eating some. Do they have them at the Appletree, where I shall be tonight?

― Dave B (daveb), Monday, 27 October 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

pork scratchings are SO like cocaine. imagine if 'Blow' had been about the nefarious process of introducing salted pork rind snacks into the United States - the glamour! all those great bands that break up after making their worst album ever - it's all cos they've been doing a bit too much of the 'hogbits'

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

no scratchings at the apple tree, no :o(

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

utterly classic, and totally agree with piss-poor packaging = better. i will hopefully be eating some in just over an hour, hurrah.

i wish i could remember where it was (a butcher's? i don't think it was a pub...) which sold real pork crackling (as in huge bits cut off a roast). that was fantastic.

also the soft fatty bit = the best obv. i sometimes wonder if packs of just that would be the best thing ever.

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I think they sold crackling with the Real Pork Roast in Glastonbury.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

when they cook pork roast in our canteen, they always put out a plate with lots of really big bits of crackling on it, so even those who don't fancy a roast can partake if they so wish. Fantastic!

crackling is such a wonderfully descriptive word.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

God the soft bit is gorgeous. They are the world's greatest snack. Dave B very otm about packaging. It is very easy and probably correct to be rockist about scratchings - the best I ever had came in a faded bag in an empty local on the outskirts of Kendal on a rainy Sunday.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Toby, they already do them. They're called "lard".

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

lard doesn't have that slightly grainy texture though that you get with a proper scratching.

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

In Tennessee we call them pork rinds. Dollywood's precursor (Silver Dollar City) had an "authentic" spit-roast BBQ shack that kept a basket of pork rinds out, and you could just grab some for free. They were greasy and hot. We'd keep making excuses to go past that basket.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

cue most London Ilxors doing the Homer Simpson drool thing

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

A whole week there and none of you mentioned this once or bought any whilst FAPping. Clearly you think to keep this delicacy to yourself.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Prawns and cockles are a wonderful pub snack if you're so blessed. I quite like pork scratchings yeah.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

HAIR????!??!!??

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

We were all on diets, Ned (or need to be, judging by your camera which adds 20 pounds to every person apart from Toby, who obviously provides the extra lard for everyone else).

NB I say this because you're all even more beautiful than in Ned's photos.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Num num hair.

Ned the problem is that Sam Smiths only stocks KP Pork Scratchings, which are no good, so when buying snacks there we tend to go for the lemongrass crackers and the popadums.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

would that be those little popadums that you get in tubes? My local Londis used to do them but then stopped :-(

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

No Phileas Fogg ones.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Those things absolutely fascinated Mike D. It was a revelation to him.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Is Crackling the only onomatopoeic food??

― Davel, Monday, 27 October 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

No, there is also bubble and squeak.

I am amazed that Teeny is the only person so far to express horror.

...sits and waits for more of the world to wake up and turn on ILX...

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

and Milk. (does bubble and squeak really bubble and squeak? jaysus)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

It should do if you fry it right

― chris (chris), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Toffee.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I would have expressed my horror, but I was too busy throwing up at the thought of Pig Hair. And Madchen's banana curry story. And "rice pudding".

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw something on tv the other day about how pork rinds are now the snack of choice for lots of people on the Atkins diet. Health food stores are stocking them and stuff.

― kirsten (kirsten), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I LOVE PORK RINDS MMMMMMMM

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i used to eat them only when fishing... (???)

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/harvesthealth/grgoswcibucr.html

― kirsten (kirsten), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

You fish for pork rinds?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i would eat them while fishing. a bag of them. in a boat. on a lake. as a child.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I like my vision, tho.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

At my Shop Rite, pork rinds are stocked in the same aisle as the kosher food.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Image googling "hairy pork" returned one result:

http://www.chowhound.com/writing/xose/cocido/Cocido2.jpg

Just the link, to protect the feeble of stomach (it is not pron, by the way)

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

MMMM TRIPE (bleah)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

MMMMMM, EPICAC ILX STYLE.. I LOVE YOU ALL

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Pork scratchings are wonderful, even the hairy bits. I got a nipple, once.

They're best bought from proper old-fashioned butcher's shops, in half-hundredweight bags. Num.

― C J (C J), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Pork scratchings are wonderful, even the hairy bits. I got a nipple, once.

Do you hear that sound? That's the sound of my world ending!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

You fish for pork rinds?

*shrugs* I saw a surfing pig earlier today on Animal Planet.

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 01:24 (twenty-two years ago)

From now on, whenever i hear an English accent, I'm double-checking to make sure the hair on my soggy nipples aren't visible nor the surrounding skin too soggy nor crackling.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 01:37 (twenty-two years ago)

*snort*

Pork rinds = chicharrones in Español. I like getting a couple bags of chicharrones and a dozen homemade corn tortillas from an honest-to-goodness authentic molino, going home with them, and wrapping the crispy chicharrones in the corn tortillas. Good enough for three hungry breakfasting beings!

Note: I do not like it when chicharrones are put into sauce and turned all soft and icky-looking. I will only eat them if they're extra-crunchy. And I'm absolutely positive that none of the chicharrones (can I stop with the italics, btw?) I've ever purchased have ever come with any weird and icky stuff in them such as nipples or hair.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The packaged pork crackling we get here isnt like, real stuff.. I mean it doesnt have the fatty fat, or hair or any other revolting bits.. its more like very hard cruncy chips? Theyre probably fake or someting. I'd prefer that personally.

Real crackling off a fresh roast tho - num. Its the only bit (dipped in some apple sauce) of a pig I'll eat. I can't bear pork - that thing with it being too close to the smell of burnt human flesh and all that ... urrghurgh.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

I just ate a packet of pork scratchings IN THE OFFICE. Never have I felt dirtier or more wrong.

― Matt DC, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:10 (eighteen years ago)

your colleagues should now regard you as some kind of god. If they don't, change jobs.

― Grandpont Genie, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:15 (eighteen years ago)

Big bucket of fried chicken for the coup de grace.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever had one with hair on it, unless I was just too pissed to notice/care.

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:20 (eighteen years ago)

I have had plenty with hair, and am secretly envious of Cj's nipple.

I have found as a general rule of thumb the best ones in the plainest bags all come from the Black Country. I am unsure why this is. A place near us used to serve ones in plain bags that just had PORK SCRATCHINGS and the address printed on, that they kept in a bin bag.

― aldo, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:27 (eighteen years ago)

All the best things come from the West Midlands.

(may not be true)

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:30 (eighteen years ago)

My colleagues all had one as well. My boss came in with several packets for no apparent reason.

― Matt DC, Friday, 8 February 2008 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

Declare your love for the scratching on your chest.

Also, these 'Q Scratchings' are one of the best I've come across, and are available here.

http://www.acescratchings.com/small%20images/qps.jpg

The wikipedia page on scratchings is suprisingly enlightening.

― aldo, Friday, 8 February 2008 12:19 (eighteen years ago)

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