Stovetop Batch of Cracklin / Grattons

Started back Keto dieting last week, and what better low carb delicacy than the meat candy which is cracklin.

Proper cracklin isn't easy to find in Houston, so I decided to make a small batch.

Got a 2.5 LB slab of skin-on pork belly from Ranch 99 (Asian Supermarket) at $3.50/LB. Not many places have the skin-on version. Costco and HEB's offerings are skinless.

I've done cracklin about 4-5 times before, always outside on a burner and a large cast iron pot.

As I'm in an apartment in Houston, I can't cook outside on my balcony, so I had to settle on using this 7qt enameled cast iron dutch oven.



Used some lard I picked up from a Latin supermarket and added the lard and the belly to the cold pot and brought up to 220 degrees.


This stuff always looks like nasty tofu when you're 20 minutes into the process.




40 min in:



at 55 min - pulled out to a wire rack to rest and cool down.






40oz of pork belly yieled 15oz of cracklin. This is why you're seeing $18-20/lb cracklin these days. I was at $9-10 in supplies and spent over an hour cooking.




After resting for 20 minutes (me and the cracklin), I turned up the heat on the pot and got the lard up to 370. I dropped the cracklin in two small batches, and each only took a little over a minute to get the skin nice and blistered. Removed and seasoned immediately.

Final product. I used Toups "Crack Spice" and they turned out great.


The only problem is trying to air out my apartment afterwards.




I subbed erythritol granules for the sugar and made a smaller batch with 2TBSP/1TBSP ratios