I Try It So You Don’t Have To: Mac’s Salt and Vinegar Pork Skins

It is always a bit of a Sophie’s Choice at Subway. There you are, subpar sandwich in hand, and you are trying to make that ever critical chip decision. Should you go with Cheetos? Perhaps Doritos or pretzels? Or maybe a good old fashioned potato chip? But, then what kind: sour cream and onion? BBQ? Baked or “Light Chips”?

I will say I am quite pleased that pork rinds (or pork skins, if you prefer) aren’t an option at my local sub shop. Lord knows my head might just explode if I had to choose a favorite…there are a zillion varieties, but up until now, I hadn’t tried any. Now is the time: Salt and Vinegar Pork Skins, here I come.

Smell: In full disclosure, I grabbed this variety of pork skins because of the smell. In the store, the scent was seeping out of the bag. It was a seriously pungent odor…but in a good way. I adore salt and vinegar chips and these smelled like salt and vinegar chips on steroids.

Appearance/Texture: I was surprised by how large these were….some were almost the length of my palm. The tan color was the same as any other pork rind. There are little, delightful divets filled with fat and oil covering the surface of every pork skin. As soon as they hit the tongue, they start melting. They are crunchy and make quite a bit of noise as you eat them.

Taste: Um…yeah, these are good. Really, incredibly tasty and delicious. It is so liberating to admit this. Who doesn’t like salt and vinegary goodness slathered on fried fat? There is a slightly smoky undernote to these. Frankly, I don’t really see anything not to love.

Final verdict: These were thrown in the trash, but not because I didn’t like them. For once, I was really sad to see them go. Honestly, I just have enough shame in my life. I cannot, under any circumstances, allow myself to sit on my couch and watch “John and Kate Plus 8” while I eat Salt and Vinegar Pork Skins. It is too damn close to getting a cat and totally giving up. Dang if I won’t miss these, though.

(Programming Note: Next week brings too much baking and not enough time, so you won’t find me here.  This Thanksgiving I am thankful to y’all for reading.  Have a great holiday and see you in two weeks.)

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Lemmonex writes almost daily about food, life, and how much she just wants to dance on her blog, Culinary Couture.