#99 – CHICHARRONES from FLYING PIGS FARM

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

When I was a kid, I was sort of scared of pork rinds. It’s huge in most cultures, including Southern cooking, but it was not something my parents ever gave me. And the thought of eating fried pork skin was never something that appealed to me.

In Latin American cooking, these fried nuggets of skin are called chicharrones, and they are hugely popular. My first experience was a gourmet one – at Blue Hill Stone Barns, where they don’t waste a single bit of the animal. The chicharrones were puffy, greaseless, and had a deep porky flavor that was as heavenly as any strip of bacon. If the restaurant weren’t technically out of the city limits, this dish would have made my own Top 100.

So I’ve been eager to try the version from Flying Pigs Farm, which is a small-scale livestock farm upstate, which again is not in New York City. However, this farm has a regular stall at the Union Square Greenmarket. And it was there where the writers of Time Out tasted the chicharrones and raved about them.

The problem has been that the farm only made these for a limited time and by the time we stopped by (just a few weeks after the list was published last year), they had stopped making them. I’ve checked in many times over the last few months and the farmers and employees have said they will most likely return, but no promises had been made. Most recently, somebody manning the booth told me they would make them again after the humidity was gone – most likely in November.

Well, I can’t wait that long. The new Time Out list is already out and I have to put this one to bed. So while I do plan on tasting their chicharrones when they finally return, I did a bit of research and decided to try some from a typical Mexican bodega.

I came across Mexico 2000 (which coincidentally is on TONY’s new 100 best list) when I was in Williamsburg and I was delighted to see this place had both a “secret” eating area in the back and bags of chicharrones for sale. I reached for a bag and the owner told me in broken English that he had freshly made chicharrones and led me to a big box with huge pieces of puffed fried orbs. I put a few in a bag and headed to the subway.

These were much greasier than the refined versions from Blue Hill (those were part of a very expensive tasting menu). They were crispy and fresh with quite a bit of saltiness and a bit of earthy gaminess. If these were smaller and I weren’t worried about the grease and heart attack, I could have probably eaten them like popcorn. But they were slightly initimidating and ultimately not my thing.

I still plan on getting a bag of the ones from Flying Pig Farms when (and if) they finally make them again. And I’ll be sure to update this review so stay tuned.

Would Flying Pigs Farm’s Chicharrones make my Top 100 of the year? Only time will tell since they are not yet available, the ones from Mexico 200 earn a 7 out of 10 from me.