Cracklings (USA), crackling (British English), also known as scratchings, are the solid material which remains after rendering animal fat and skin to produce

lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the o ...

tallow Tallow is a rendering (industrial), rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain techn ...

, or

schmaltz Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, lat ...

, or as the result of roasting meat. It is often eaten as a

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

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 to ...

. It is also used in cooking. Alan Davidson, ''

The Oxford Companion to Food ''The Oxford Companion to Food'' is an encyclopedia about food. It was edited by Alan Davidson and published by Oxford University Press in 1999. It was also issued in softcover under the name ''The Penguin Companion to Food''. The second and th ...

'', ''s.v.'' Cracklings are most commonly made from

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

goose A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the ...

, and

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

, but are also made from other

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

and from

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

lamb and mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

Sources of cracklings

French cuisine

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

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

Pork

Pig skin made into cracklings are a popular ingredient worldwide: in Central European, Quebecois (''cretons''),

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

('' chicharrones''),

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

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

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the 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 a ...

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

Beef

Krupuk kulit Krupuk kulit ( jv, rambak or min, karupuak jangek, lit: "skin crackers") is a traditional Indonesian cattle skin ''krupuk'' (cracker). Traditionally it is made from the soft inner skin of cattle (cow or water buffalo), diced, and sun-dried unti ...

'' is an

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

cracker (''

krupuk ''Krupuk'' ( Javanese), ''kerupuk'' (Indonesian), ''keropok'' (Malay), ''kroepoek'' (Dutch) or ''kropek'' ( Tagalog) is a cracker made from starch or animal skin and other ingredients that serve as flavouring. Most krupuk are deep fried, w ...

'') made of beef skin. In

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

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

Poultry

Goose cracklings are popular in

Central European cuisine Central European cuisine consists of the culinary customs, traditions and cuisines of the nations of Central Europe. The cuisines within each country in the region is strongly influenced by the local climate. For example, German, Polish, Aus ...

. Chicken and goose cracklings are popular in

Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern, Central, Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, and their descendants, particularly in the United States and other Western count ...

, and are called ''

gribenes In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, gribenes or grieven ( yi, גריבענעס, , "cracklings"; he, גלדי שומן) are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions. As with other cracklings, gribenes are a byproduct of rendering animal f ...

''.

Lamb and mutton

Cracklings from

fat-tailed sheep The fat-tailed sheep is a general type of domestic sheep known for their distinctive large tails and hindquarters. Fat-tailed sheep breeds comprise approximately 25% of the world's sheep population, and are commonly found in northern parts of Af ...

were until recently a popular ingredient in

Persian cuisine Iranian cuisine () refers to the culinary practices of Iran. Due to the historically common usage of the term "Persia" to refer to Iran in the Western world,Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 ( ...

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 The cuisine of Germany () is made up of many different local or regional cuisines, reflecting the country's federal history. Germany itself is part of the larger cultural region of Central Europe, sharing many culinary traditions with neighbo ...

, cracklings of pork or goose (''Grieben'') are often added to lard (''Schmalz'') when it is used as a bread

spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

. 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 Potato pancakes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or applesauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasoning. They may be topped with a variety of condim ...

(''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>

Notes

Skin Meat dishes Cooking fats World cuisine