Pork Cracklings

Pork cracklings are made by cooking the bacon and draining all the lard (fat) afterwards. Bacon is first diced and put in a pot with some water. Then it is gradually heated and stirring until all the lard gets liquid. When the cracklings start getting golden, some milk is added and fried on for a while, then the fat is drained and the cracklings are left to get a bit darker. When they are ready, they are taken out and salted. There are also the so-called tobacco-cracklings – a real speciality, obtained by the same method of cooking, frying and draining the fat until they crumble and get all golden-brown.

LANGUAGE

The Serbian word čvаrаk [tʃva-rak], (a crackling) comes from the verb čvаriti [tʃva-riti] – to cook for a long time until it melts (bacon, fat); to fry in the way that the sound of crackling is heard.

GEOGRAPHY

One of those food festivals is the Bacon Festival Kаčаrеvo (near Pаnčеvo).

HISTORY

Earlier, during the hog slaughter season no one cooked the bacon for cracklings. They were just a side product obtained by draining the liquid lard from a piece of fried bacon. When vegetable oils were not part of the veryday consumption, pig lard was essential for cooking.