So that gastronomic journey I mentioned a few posts ago…Here we go.  I’ll go day by day because it’ll end up being a really long post.

So last month I surprised my best friend for her birthday.  It was a crazy journey which involved a flight to Texas and a road trip to New Orleans.  She was attending a wedding there and we just showed up!  So on the drive we kept seeing signs for “cracklins”.  My husband knew what they were and wanted to try them and I had no clue what they were.  He just kept describing them like pork rinds.  So we see some signs for a special meats store and curiosity told us to take that exit.  We walked in and were instantly greeted by an unfamiliar smell.  I’m going to say it reminded me of textiles.  Not sure what it was but it wasn’t really pleasant.  There were all kinds of things in this store.  Boudin Balls and Boudin were in the fridge.  It’s basically sausage.  There were different spices, but nothing that caught my eye.  The ingredients in their trademarked spice where nothing to hoot and holler about.  And then as we approached the front there was the case, similar to a popcorn machine, full of cracklins.  They were deep fried, golden brown, covered in spice, and looked yummy!  We got a bag full and some drinks and headed back to the car to try them.

Here’s the bag:

We both grabbed one and bit down.  They are crunchy!  The spices were really good and a nice cold coke just goes perfect with them.  I can see how it’s easy to snack on them while watching TV.

Here is me demonstrating how hard they were:

My husband said they weren’t that bad, but he has like animal teeth.  He could chew on rocks and be totally fine.

Here is a close up:

So as you can see it’s not just pig skin.  It’s actually the entire skin and muscle layer.  The skin part is really crunchy and the meat part is a bit more chewy.  It’s like fried bacon.  SO GOOD.

So if you live near NOLA or are heading that way, give it a try!

I’ll post soon about the amazing food we had in NOLA.  I’ve never had better seafood, and wait till you see the oysters.  They were as big as my face!  Well…my palm.

So the cracklins adventure was a success!