Pasta meets Pigskin
Here’s a recipe from a nineteenth-century manuscript cookbook from Jalisco, a state in the center of Mexico.
Duro de harina [chicharrón] (literally something hard of flour)
One quarter of flour, a teaspoon of salt, another of sodium bicarbonate; dissolve all this in a liter of water. In another pot or vessel, pour another liter of water, when it boils empty it strained over the former, which will end up a thick paste, stretch it out on tin sheets or boards, put it in the sun, when it begins to dry out cut it in squares and turn them, then when they are dry fry them in golden lard.
Manteca dorada is the lard that has turned dark in frying or been rendered at a high temperature. It would have given a richer taste to these sheets of fried pasta.
Fried pasta as “chicharrón” is very common indeed today. Men sell it from big baskets along with hot sauce. You can buy the sheets ready made from grain merchants from big sacks, tinted an odd kind of pinkish color, though I’ve never seen them in grocery stores. They turn more or less chicharrón color when fried and look bubbly like chicharrón.
I’d always assumed that these were a cheap version of fried pig skin. But who knows? Does anyone know more about these in Mexico? Or has anyone encountered deep fried pasta as a snack elsewhere?
I can’t speak for fried pasta in Mexico but I do love the fried snacks made from leftover wonton skins. In the Philippines, chicharon (one ‘r’ has been dropped) is also used as a garnish or topping over sauces but a favorite snack is ‘chicharon bulaklak (flower)’, made from a portion of a pig’s stomach – the name, I assume, derives from the ruffled edges of the fried omentum pieces. I haven’t had it in ages but I recall that the first few pieces are delicious before the oiliness becomes overwhelming. I suppose this is where a cold bottle of San Miguel beer comes in handy.
Fried starchy pastes are pretty common, fried lentil ‘noodles’ in southern India, tortilla chips, a whole bunch of fast food snacks are based on this method as starch + hot fat = puffy.
But looking at the recipe is it really a pasta? Sounds almost like hot water paste, churro type recipe, except for the sodium bicarbonate?
You’re right about hot water paste, Adam. I was misled by how much this looks like pasta when it’s for sale in the sack. But I would say more like the paste (glue) I was taught to make in kindergarten that the paste for churros.
I’m not sure whether or not I’d want to assimilate this completely to fried starchy pastes.
Lots to reply to in the comment column. Tomorrow.
Is this the same as the small orange pinwheels and other strange shapes one finds in large bags which, I believe, are meant to be deep fried at home? puff to about 4 times their size in the vendor’s bag?
Adam mentioned fried lentil ‘noodles’ in southern India. They are made by squeezing a mix of lentil flour, spices and water directly into hot oil and deep frying. There is also a similar rice preparation where the ground batter of rice is mixed with sesame, cumin and red chili power, cooked to a thick dough like paste. A snack press (similar to a cookie press) is filled with this dough and pressed into thick strands onto a clean mat and sun dried. They are deep fried in oil before serving