When I was a kid, we used to butcher all of the meat that we ate. The only time that I appreciated helping was when we butchered pigs because I was the one that got to mix the mier gropa (giant cauldron) full of cracklings. (Cracklings are pieces of pork that are left-over from the lard making process.) It was a very tough job. I would have to use a heavy wooden paddle to stir the boiling fat mixture while keeping the fire lit underneath. It all paid off though, because it was only a matter of time before my foster mother would throw reb shpare (spare ribs) into the fat to cook. Before I started mixing the cracklings, I would locate the salt shaker and bring it to my work station in preparation for this moment. When the reb shpare would be done cooking, I was informed to take it out of the pot, put it in a pan and set it aside so that the ribs could cool down to be split amongst the families that were helping to butcher. But before they would cool down, I would sneak two or three ribs, add some salt, and quickly eat them before anyone saw. I had been doing this for about 3 years already, so I knew to just sneak two or three ribs as to not get caught. But this last time, as I was an 11 year old boy, and I guess I had built up an appetite mixing the cracklings/reb shpare, after three ribs I was still hungry. So I snuck another one. And another one. And I kept sneaking and eating ribs until I had eaten about an ice cream pails worth. So when the adults came to get the pan of ribs, and they saw that there were only a few ribs left and my face was full of grease, every member from every family was furious with me, including my foster mother! I got a spanking and was moved to sausage/ham smoking duty, but if there’s one thing I like more than reb shpare, it’s ham.
To smoke the meat, we used a bottomless barrel set into a hole in the garden on top of a fire. And there was a pan placed beside the barrel overtop of the fire to help feed the fire, but keep the smoke inside. There were broomsticks placed on top of the barrel to hang the meat on to smoke, and we would throw an old potato sack overtop to keep the smoke in as well. (see amazing one-of-a-kind hand drawn picture below).
While I was smoking the sausage and ham, I snuck inside the house to grab a pearing knife. While I was inside, one of the potato sacks lit on fire and everyone started yelling at me again for not paying attention. Soon though, everyone continued on with their own duties and stopped paying attention to me. So I pulled out my knife and started discretely cutting off small chunks of ham and placed them on the pan on the ground to cook. Then, while lying on my belly, pretending to mind the fire, I would roast my ham, and eat it without anyone seeing. I guess you could say it was my very first Korean barbeque. I had been doing this for quite a while now, and I guess I started getting cocky, and didn’t see my foster mother coming. So while lying on my belly, getting stuffed on ham, she came up behind me and yelled “Vot in da vorld ast dis?!!” It scared the pants off of me, and as I jumped up, I pushed myself up with my hand on the fiery hot pan. It felt as though my hand melted to the bone, but I couldn’t let her see my pain, in hopes that she didn’t see me eating the ham. She looked at me like she knew something fishy was going on, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Maybe I deserved it for stealing so much meat that day, but I still think it was worth the pain. I managed to hide my burnt hand from everyone until it healed.
Growing up and living in multiple Mennonite communities in my life means that I have tried many different variations of cracklings and different methods of cooking those cracklings. Some people made it with milk, some people ate it without the fat removed. I’ve even seen people add butter to their cracklings. I’ve seen cracklings eaten on bread, buns, and even roll kuchen. My favorite way of eating cracklings is frying the leftovers with potatoes the day after. You can usually buy cracklings from any butcher shop for about $10 a container. This is how I cook my cracklings.
You’ll need a container of cracklings, some water, a pot and a metal sieve.
Add the cracklings to a pot and cook on medium. It’s better to thaw the cracklings out before you cook them, but cooking from frozen works fine, it just takes a bit longer. (Mine were frozen)
Cook until all of the fat is melted and cracklings are boiling.
Once boiling, strain the fat into a container. I like to save the fat for making buns later on.
Use a spoon to squish the cracklings to get out as much fat as possible.
Put the cracklings back in the pot, add salt to taste, return to the stove and cook on medium-high.
Add about 3 tablespoons of water and continue frying, stirring constantly.
Once the cracklings start to get darker, remove from heat. Be careful not to let them burn.
Serve and enjoy! One of my old friends taught me to hollow out the inside of a bun, and fill it with cracklings. And that’s how I’ve taught my kids to eat it now. It’s especially good served with fresh buns.
Let me know if you like cracklings, and how you cook and eat them!
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- Cracklings
- 3 Tbsp Water
- Salt to taste
- Add the cracklings to a pot and cook on medium. It's better to thaw the cracklings out before you cook them, but cooking from frozen works fine, it just takes a bit longer.
- Cook until all of the fat is melted and cracklings are boiling.
- Once boiling, strain the fat into a container.
- Use a spoon to squish the cracklings to get out as much fat as possible.
- Put the cracklings back in the pot, add salt to taste, return to the stove and cook on medium-high.
- Add about 3 tablespoons of water and continue frying, stirring constantly.
- Once the cracklings start to get darker, remove from heat. Be careful not to let them burn.
- Serve and enjoy!
This is totally fascinating! That’s exactly how we prepared the grieven. And yes, sooooo good with brown bread and salt…….and hot coffee with milk in it! And then the leftovers fried with fried potatoes. Can’t be beat.
Growing up on the family farm, Pork Cracklings is nothing new to me.
Absolutely the BEST.
It doesn’t matter what time of the day you eat them…breakfast, dinner, supper or in between, they always taste fantastic.
I would even fry myself up some for a bedtime snack. They were always made every time we slaughtered our hogs.
Oh, how that description brings memories to the fore of one of my favourite foods and the way it was made.
I would like to have the cookbook – please, where do I get one?
Thank you.
Unfortunately I do not have a cookbook (maybe one day!).
Is there any where to buy cracklings
You should be able to buy it at your local butcher shop
I’d say it depends where you are. At least one grocery store in a Mennonite town should stock it in their meat department. Pioneer meats in Altona MB markets crackles in one and two pound tubs, along with lard and their wonder farmer sausage. I’m now in Portage la Prairie (not a Mennonite town) and it is regularly available in their meat department.
At the Co Op store. I can’t say I’ve seen it anywhere else here.
Pour some Rogers Syrup on your bun with crackles. Or dip your bun in Rogers. You’ll be in heaven. Only way I know to eat them….Mennonite roots here 🙂
That sounds amazing! I will definitely be trying this. Thanks!
This is the way we (Mennonites) ate them after butchering. Cracklings were highly prized as they had to be divided amongst the families that participated in the butchering! As we were in Kansas, we used white Karo syrup and scooped them off our plate with pinches of bread or Zwieback!
Brings back memories. One year, we actually had the cracklings stick to the spare ribs! I’ve never seen it happen again, but was it ever delicious.
I buy bags of pork fat from the local butcher and render it down myself. I’m too old to butcher my own hog anymore! Lol lol! I’m 70! Try them in biscuits!! Yummm!
I was curious what made up the Cracklings/Grieva I ate as a child and young Man, not sure where my parents got it when I was younger but in later yaers we got our’s from Riedigers, a grocery store on Isabel St in Winnipeg. Now I have a desire for it and Riedigers is long gone, maybe Cantors Meats on Logan will have some, if not I’ll be checking out some butchers, maybe worth a trip out to Steinbach or Altona. Thank you for the memories and great stories as well as the explanation of how it was made..
Hi Bob – I realize this response is a year and a half after your post! But – you can frequently purchase Crackles at Co-op stores in Winnipeg, Altona and Steinbach. Sometimes Sobeys will carry them. Also, Family Foods on Dakota and Dunkirk Drive in Winnipeg carries crackles on a regular basis.
My grandparents and my parents would grind the smoked pig skins and bits and pieces and render it down, but can the fat & cracklings in mason jars for future eating. The cooled jars looked like fat with tiny bits and ground small chunks (cracklings). Mom would get a jar, scoop out some and fry it in a frying pan and then fry bread slices in the cracklings…. SOOOOO GOOD!!!