[Sca-cooks] proper cracklings

[Philippa Alderton]

--- "Mark S. Harris" <stefan at texas.net> wrote:
> Margali commented:
>
> > It isn't the taste, it is the overall texture.
> Proper cracklings are the fat
> > and skin layer of pigs sliced into pieces and deep
> fried.
> >
> So is there any evidence that such a food item was
> eaten in period? I
>
> can't see where it wouldn't be unless there was a
> more important thing
> to do with this part of the pig.

Well, Stefan, while I've seen no evidence that it was
eaten, I tend to figure that, since, if you render fat
for lard, you wind up with cracklin's, and since we
know they made lard, as we know they made tallow, they
had to do something with them, as they were not
wasteful people.

Since there is no sign of a Cracklin' Graveyard in any
of the garbage dumps which have been excavated,
probably they weren't thrown away.

There is no sign of them having been used in
architecture, perhaps as a component of morter.

There is no sign of them becoming a part of wearing
apparel, or of jewelry or decoration for same.

There are no extant trade manifests, that I'm aware
of, suggesting they might have been a trade item.

Since they weren't thrown out, built with, worn, or
traded, something must have been done with them.

We do know they are edible. Consequently, they must
have been eaten.

However, that doesn't mean that they were eaten by
human beings- they quite possibly might have been used
as an animal fodder- poultry, pigs, and goats will eat
damn near anything.

My suspicion is that they were used then as they are
now, in the country, when there's a pig butchering. As
the fat gets rendered, the cracklins are skimmed off
and all participants are given as many as they want.
Considering the number of people usually involved in a
butchering and rendering, there would probably be
enough for a treat for a couple of days, and after
that they'd be gone. Sort of an annual thing, perhaps,
where it happens so seldom, that no one gets tired of
it. Cracklins are not something that would keep well,
under the circumstances, those nasty modern bags of
pork rinds to the contrary. Of course, this is merely
speculation, from experience of modern butchering. We
wouldn't really know unless we found a good
description of a similar event in period- and then it
would likely only hold true for that time/place.

Phlip

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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