The vast majority of us discard the crust of the Serrano ham as we clean it, and then we buy bags of chicharrones in the supermarkets or we order them at the bar with a very fresh beer. I'm going to explain this super easy recipe for you to make this typical Spanish tapa at home.
How to use the skin of the Serrano ham.
This is a full-fledged kitchen of use. The only thing you need is the crust of the cured ham, the hard part.
Nowadays many hams come with the V cut, and they only keep the crust in the area of the hock and a little more, but the mace and stifle come without crust to facilitate the cleaning of the Spanish ham leg or the shoulder, although they are still visible. Serrano hams with the whole piece covered with bark.
Surely your mother or your grandmother when buying a good Serrano ham for Christmas, if they kept the crusts and made them fried, as I will explain in this traditional Spanish recipe, or in many other preparations. Where I live, sugar cakes with chicharrones are very famous. A calorie bomb, but how delicious, please!
I'm going to tell you a secret: The best ones are the ones that take a piece of ham stuck together. As children we fought over them.
Jamón Serrano crusts recipe.
Ingredients: Serrano or Iberico Ham Crust and abundant oil.
As such, those two ingredients are the only ones that are needed. Salt, logically, you do not need.
The trick is that the oil is very hot so that the skin of the ham does not absorb more than necessary, but be careful not to burn. Of course, put the extractor to full capacity because it generates a lot of smoke, but do not worry, it is normal.
Add the crust cut into strips about 3 cm long and 1 wide. But don't go to cut it with a scalpel; take a piece of fat. If it has a piece of ham, even better. You will see that the fat stuck to the skin will melt and that the hard part will wrinkle and brown. Move them so that they brown well all over. Take them out to a tray with absorbent kitchen paper. Let them cool and eat.
They will last 3 or 4 days easily without losing the crunchiness. If you want them to last longer, store them in an airtight glass container; But come on, you already know that they are so vitiated that they won't last half an hour.
Buy Iberian Ham to make pork rinds.
Serrano ham "chicharron"es are to die for, right? Well imagine how are the Iberico Ham. Although for this preparation, with cheap Iberian hams, it will be spectacular.
You are not going to buy an Iberico Ham shoulder just to make fried crusts, but you already know that the next time you visit our online Spanish hams Store to take one home, you will never throw the skin away again.
With the fat that we are removing, we can also save it to melt it in a pot and then use it to add it to stews and give it an extra point of flavor.
Do not forget to put passion to the elaboration, they will always come out better. I tell you from experience. everything in life is more gratifying with love, the same love that we put in our online Iberico hams store.