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Do you ever have a bunch of random chicken skins hanging out in the fridge/freezer? I always buy skin-on chicken but a lot of the time I’ll end up using the chicken and having leftover chicken skins. I’ll either pan-fry them up or if I’m feeling particularly wicked, I’ll deep fry them up into a chicken version of that puffy pork skin favourite: chicharrón.

I didn’t grow up eating pork rinds, in fact I didn’t even know what those bags at the grocery store full of styrofoam-looking puffs were. After cooking through the Momofuku book, I realized they were pig skin, dehydrated and puffed up into airy, crisp skin snacks.

Making chicharrón is a pretty simple process: skin is boiled, dehydrated then deep-fried. It sounds incredibly unhealthy, but pork rinds can actually be described by a lot of health buzzwords: no carb, gluten-free, and paleo.

It’s a little magical, how the dry skins puff up after a bit of gentle chopstick action. Deep-fried, salty and crunchy, these are ideal paired with beer on a crispy fall night.

Chicka-rones: Deep-Fried Chicken Skin Recipe
makes as many as desired

• chicken skins, as many as desired
• grapeseed or rice bran oil for deep frying
• shichimi togarashi

Heat a pot of water over high heat. Add the chicken skins and simmer until chicken skins are cooked, 5-8 minutes. Drain, spread out on a plate and cool. Scrape off as much fat as you can while keeping the skin intact. Place skins in the fridge, uncovered, overnight or for 2 hours to dehydrate.

Heat up 1 1/2 inches of oil to 350°F in a deep sided pot. Carefully deep fry the chicken skins until puffy and crisp, 1 minute or so. Drain on paper towels and enjoy immediately sprinkled with shichimi togarashi.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada! Hope everyone is falling into a food coma and is thankful for all the good things in life: love, family, friends and food.

chicken