Street Snacks & Botanas Callejeras

Chicharrón de Puerco in Los Angeles

Look for massive, golden sheets of puffed pork crackling hanging above cutting counters, snapped fresh for tacos and snacking at Imperial Night Market in Downtown LA on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, when a vendor is serving it. Free entry.

2300 E 15th St, Downtown LA · Free entry
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CATEGORY
Street Snacks & Botanas Callejeras
PREPARATION
Cleaned pork skin salted, sun-aired, blanched in lard, and puffed in hot fat.
MARKET
Imperial Night Market, Downtown LA
HERITAGE

The origins of Chicharrón de Puerco

Chicharrón de puerco holds an essential place in Mexican culinary culture, consumed across the country in street tacos and casual snacking. Chronicler Salvador Novo noted that the word chicharrón may connect to the Nahuatl term chichinoa, meaning to scorch or burn.

Producing proper artisan chicharrón is a multi-day craft. Butchers clean and scrape the pork skin, score it in crosshatch patterns, and cure it in salt for several days to dehydrate. The skin is then gently poached in warm lard, hung to dry again as a dense strip called monguis, and finally dropped into roaring hot fat, where it expands within seconds into a crisp, airy crackling.

Light, airy, and intensely crisp crunchMulti-day curing, drying, and puffing techniqueRich savory pork aroma with delicate saltSnapped into pieces for tacos and salsa

If you like Chicharrón de Puerco

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Frequently asked questions

What is monguis in chicharrón making?

Monguis is the intermediate stage where the skin has been salted, par-cooked in lard, and dried until translucent and firm.

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