Thursday, January 13, 2011

You Know You're in the South when ...

you find something like this readily available in the snack food aisle of more than one convenience stores. That says what you think it says. "Fried Out Pork Fat with Attached Skin." There's got to be more to it than that, right? Wrong! That's really all there is to it: Pork fat with attached skin. Oh, yeah, and some salt. I have no idea--and neither did dictionary.com--what "fried out" means. Let's assume that "fried out" equals "fried." Fried fat? Who dreams these things up? How do you market such a product? Why, as a health food, of course. After all, it has 0 grams total carbs and 0 grams trans fat per serving. It's got to be good for you, right? It sounds as if it's fat free except that it's not. It does have fat, just not trans fat. Slightly more than half the calories (45 out of the 80 in one serving; the bag holds three servings) come from fat. The fact that it's only slightly more than half is pretty amazing given that the main ingredient is ... fat that's been fried! I guess the attached skin accounts for the difference. And if this isn't bad enough, the same product comes in flavored varieties; think potato chips and barbecue potato chips, only here it's fried fat and spicy fried fat. Perhaps the purpose of the spicy is to distract you from the fact that you are eating fried fat. Who buys this stuff? Oh, right, I do, though I bought it not to eat but to photograph and blog about. I've offered it to the family, and they're not interested. I've offered to share it with them--"I'll eat some if you do, too"--and they're still not interested. So, if you want this, leave a comment, e-mail, Facebook message, or otherwise let me know, and it can be yours for free. I'll even foot the postage bill. I've had my fun with it; now you can have your turn.

1 comment:

  1. Jean, This also called Cracklin's and pork rinds. When you kill and butcher a hog the fat is "rendered" for the lard. Cracklin's is what is left over. You put all the fat with the skin in a heavy pot and keep it over a slow flame and stir whenever you happen by. I have rendered fat from a butchered hog when I was a teenager. Pork rinds is my Mom's favorite snack when we are making a road trip. Get her a pepsi and a bag of pork rinds and she is good to go lots of miles. N-i-N aka Mo

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