this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
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bitofarambler

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I find out what chicharron is in Peru. (crazypeople.online)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by bitofarambler@crazypeople.online to c/bitofarambler@crazypeople.online
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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.

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[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That looks fantastic, and I'm not a fan of fish!

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It was fun to try all this stuff, and I'm very glad I learned about peruvian chicharron and tiradito but I'm going to try to find a more street-level ceviche place, this was a little upscale and the sauces didn't quite match up to the ritz for me.

I need to find a grandma ceviche place.

[–] pdxfed@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What is on the upper left and right of photo, upper right looks like sashimi/raw fish maybe?

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Upper left is ceviche, upper right is tiradito, which is basically Peruvian sashimi, often served with aji, a blended rocoto pepper cream sauce

[–] pdxfed@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Was going to guess upper left was raw too but tough to tell with sauce. Both look fantastic. Can imagine this with a crisp beer or 5.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Truth, I had a big ol pilsen with this rondo(sampler) yesterday, very satisfying.

You got it, ceviche is raw fish "cold-cooked" in a citrus/fish stock sauce that I didn't really get into until this year. Really until Cusco, which changed the ceviche game for me.

Although one place in Panama was great, too.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's a pretty authentic Venezuelan place near me whose chicharron is deep fried skinless pork belly, so there's definitely regional variations.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Thank you, i was confused by your comment and then realized i wrote "skin" instead of "belly".

It's often pork belly, although the skin always sticks out to me because i have this image of singed hair from fresh Philippines chicharrón

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've absolutely ordered chicharron from a Mexican place where it was just pork skin with a green sauce. It can be tricky to know exactly what you are getting just based on the name.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Cool, i haven't made it to Mexico yet. Yucatan is on the list.

Was the skin fried or roasted?

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It seems like it was fried and then cooked in some kind of green salsa to soften it up.

[–] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Looks delicious. Whatcha got there, like a fish 4 ways type thing? What's in the shot glass?

I love people. I love how different and yet similar we all are. Food is probably the coolest expression of our diversity.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You are right for sure, food is certainly one of my favorite cultural representations!

Ceviche, seafood-cheese-rice, chicharron, and then tiradito

I'm not a huge cheesy rice fan, but the tiradito is basically sashimi, so that was very fresh and interesting.

That glass holds leche de tigre, which is a blend of fish stock, spices and lime juice, and people keep telling me that it's the different than the ceviche sauce, but every single one I try tastes the exact same as the sauce they put on their ceviche, so I can't describe the difference between leche de tigre and ceviche sauce.

The sauce is super important for ceviche, and another place I'm crazy about in cusco still has the best ceviche sauce.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's what it means where I live, in the Bible Belt USA.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I am loving finding all of this out.

Bible belt chicharron is pork belly or fried fish strips?

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Pork belly, or just pork skin if you buy it in packages at shops, usually. Unless it's an ethnic market, food truck, or shop, then it's either/or/both, depending on the vendor. The best is pork belly, sold at little stores or markets with a little restaurant or hot deli, where they make their own, and own tortillas, salsas, and everything else. Those are usually bagged in brown paper, but some shops use plastic bags and bread ties. Or did. A lot of those places are closed, now, sadly.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That is sad. Every time i visit the US, there are fewer independent shops and markets.

This is one aisle in one community market with probably 20 indie delis/restaurants/sundry shops/pharmacies, and this place has at least 10 aisles.

Every time I find a new local market somewhere, it's a comfort.

Thanks for the US southern chicharrón info, another interesting puzzle piece.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In my area, there were surprisingly many. But most of the proprietors left, voluntarily or otherwise. The few who stayed are on edge.

We still have a few locally owned other shops, but they are struggling, in general. A few are doing alright.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's nice to hear a few shops are surviving. And all the best to those who left.

[–] Album@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Most dishes esp Chich can pretty much be any meat. Pork is not available everywhere, at least historically.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Cool, I've never heard of that before.

Which alternate chicharrones are you familiar with?

[–] Album@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Chicken, mutton, beef

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Daaang rad. Where?

Sign me up.

Are they prepared using meat or the belly or just fried skin strips?

[–] Album@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Chicken you can do fried skin but it isn't necessarily just a skin thing. It's just deep fried meats.

[–] bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.