Torresmo is fried pork skin and fat, cooked in its own lard until the pieces puff and crunch. It is a petisco and a side at many Brazilian churrascos, and it goes into feijão tropeiro. It is not the same thing as pururuca, which is the popping skin left on a roast.
Pork crackling. In Spanish, chicharrón.
Safety instructions
Cook pork to 145°F (63°C) and rest 3 minutes. A butcher or named packer is the better source. Ground pork stays 160°F (71°C).
At a glance
- About 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) of cubes makes a bowl for eight
- Start in a cold dry pot. No extra oil.
- 30 to 50 minutes. Hot fat pops. Keep a lid nearby. Keep the pot dry — water in hot fat pops hard.
What to buy
Ask for pork rind with a layer of fat, or pork belly skin-on cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes. About 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) of cubes makes a bowl for eight. Empty snack rinds are already fried.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) pork skin-and-fat cubes
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) fine salt, plus more at the end
Method
- Cut the skin and fat into 1-inch cubes if the butcher did not.
- Start the cubes in a cold, wide, heavy pot. No extra oil. Medium-low heat. The fat renders and the pieces fry in it.
- Stir so nothing sticks. 30 to 50 minutes. They go from flabby to gold to blistered.
- Pull when they are crisp and still a little chewy in the middle, not dark brown. Drain on a rack. Salt while hot.
How you know it is done
The pieces are gold and blistered, not dark brown. If you flood the pot with oil at the start you are deep-frying, and the pieces stay greasy. The Brazilian pot starts dry. Keep a lid nearby. Fat pops, so keep water out of this pot.
When it goes on the table
Make it earlier. Torresmo holds better than it looks if you re-crisp it 3 minutes in a hot dry pan. Put it out with the first sausage. It is not a vegetable. It is not a substitute for farofa.
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