In Spain, the Philippines, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, everywhere I've ever heard the word, chicharron means "deep-fried pork skin", but the comments below and wikipedia will make me pay more attention in the future to chicharron. Especially in Bolivia, where chicharron is ribs. whaaat.
In at least Lima, chicharron means "breaded deep-fried fish strips".
I was dumbfounded yesterday when i found out.
I'm found dumb fairly often. I cannot confirm whether this is a Lima-only idiosyncrasy or if there were fish strips in Cusco that I never got to try because i was avoiding "chicharron".
I like peruvian chicharron, I'm not a huge fan of pork cracklings.
No, chicharrón is quite distinct from most deep-fried meat dishes.
If there is meat involved in chicharrón, which is rare, the skin is often attached, pan-fried, and frying the chicharrón in its own rendered fat is very common.
That's what's so unique about this Peruvian breaded fried fish called chicharron; it follows none of the conventions yet takes the name.
Sort of like calling a sandwich "chow mein".
Unless Peruvians use the fish oil to fry the fish? Fish oil does have a high boiling point.
But i think i would have smelled that.