Thanksgiving turkey skin, crispy and brittle? Heck yeah. Pork rinds. Don’t stop, baby.
The skin lies atop subcutaneous fat — and fat, as you know, is flavor. By the transitive property of deliciousness, skin equals flavor.
While skin might be thrown away in some circles, it can be skin-tingling good when prepared well. Here are four skins from four restaurants.
Salmon Skin maki roll (Sakekawa)
$5
Izumi, 731 W. Randolph St.; 312-207-5299
www.izumisushi.com
Gut reaction: It’s as if salmon was dehydrated, shrunken down and concentrated into crunchy little crispies. Cucumbers provide a cool counterpoint, and unagi sauce adds a savory sweetness.
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Opera Peking Duck Service, Three Preparations
$28
Opera, 1301 S. Wabash Ave.; 312-461-0161
www.opera-chicago.com
Gut reaction: Preparing Peking duck is such an intricate, exacting process, the folks at Opera have a few Chinatown chefs prepare the dish for them. In short, mechanized air separates skin from meat, then boiling oil is ladled onto the duck, making the skin incomparably crispy. Along with chow fun and a leg portion served with apricot chutney, the Peking duck course comes faithfully with sliced skin-on breast, to be wrapped in mu-shu wrappers.
Fried Chicken Skin
$3.50 a carton
Sun Wah Bar-B-Que, 1134 W. Argyle St.; 773-769-1254
Gut reaction: These immensely crunchy chicken skins might as well be fried flour cracklings. Not as much chicken flavor as you’d imagine. But dipped in the white vinegar with minced garlic, it’s kind of neat, reminiscent of English chips with malt vinegar.
Chicharrones
$3.99 a pound (an entire paper grocery bag)
Sabas Vega, 1808 S. Ashland Ave.; 312-666-5180
Gut reaction: These are the biggest, scariest pork rinds we’ve seen. Blistered and puffed as wide as a breadbox with chunks of meat still attached, it tastes fresh — as fresh as pork rinds go. Fantastic with pico de gallo, salsa verde or a blistering red salsa (three for $1 extra). It’s decibel-registering crunchy. You can’t help but chase it down with tequila or cerveza.
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Still hungry for chicharron? For another take on the snack go to chicagotribune.com/stew