Wandering through the local Rite-Aid today with Mira, I did a literal double take when I saw this:

Yes, you are reading it right, microwavable pork rinds. In this case they are Lowrey's Bacon Curls. Also known as chicharrón, pork rinds are the fried skin of a pig. I've been known to snack on them on occasion, but have no great love. They are basically potato chips made out or pork skin. Truly a carnivores's snack.

I was baffled as to why someone would produce a version that microwaved like popcorn. Obviously it was a case for Cruft Labs to investigate.

The basic cooking method is identical to popcorn. Put the package in the microwave correct side up and cook for 2 minutes.

To be honest, I expected this to be terrible. I had almost written the blog entry in my mind until I poured the bag out onto the plate.

"Wow, they look like real pork rinds, not some mutant version.", I thought to myself. "Yeah, but they must taste horrible.", I rationalized. Then I tasted one, then another, then a third. They were good. In fact they were the best pork rinds I'd ever eaten.

I took the plate to Michele for a taste test. She tasted one, then another, then a third. We both liked them.

So let it be known that Lowrey's Bacon Curls aka microwavable pork rinds are good eating. That's a sentence I'd never thought I would write, but it's the truth.

We ended up eating the whole plate. Good thing I only bought one bag, otherwise we'd have cooked that one up too.

Posted by michael at April 05, 2009 06:27 PM