Lapid’s Chicharon / Deep Fried Pork Rinds

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What is it about deep fried porcine epidermis that makes it taste so incredibly good? I am not that big of a fan of dried squid, sisig or bull’s balls but give me a freshly made bowl of salted chicharon and some good vinegar and you have given me a taste of heaven on earth. I was trolling around Market!Market! yesterday looking for some potted phaleanopsis orchids to give as a present but was unsuccessful and on my final steps towards the car, I decided to pop into Lapid’s freshly popped chicharon stall and decided to buy a few bags. While choosing my chicharon, they fried up a fresh batch of pork rinds right in front of us and the sizzle, crack, smell and sprinkling of salt was enough to make me buy three bags of chicharon! I couldn’t wait till we got home and ate a good portion of one bag in the car on my way home…thank goodness I wasn’t driving!

This chicharon is very very good. It is light, crunchy, airy, surprisingly chicha2not oily feeling or tasting, and just the right amount of salt for me. At PHP37 for a 100 gram package (without laman) and PHP57 for a 100 gram package (with laman) it is a great deal, in my opinion. Compared with a bag of chicharritos (another favorite) or even Tostitos, the Lapid’s prices are extremely affordable. It is amazing to me to see how much oil it is cooked in but the final product does not seem oily at all. And they don’t seem to have any tricks to draining the chicharon either. I have tried to make chicharon before and while it was very good, Lapid’s is a much simpler and cheaper alternative, thanks. And the vinegar they give you is native and tasty, a perfect match for the chicharon. The next time you are looking for something to put out with drinks, have several large bowls of freshly cooked chicharon from Lapid’s and I am certain your guests will approve!

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31 Responses

  1. hi marketman, that’s my favorite too. my sister used to send me the uncooked lapid’s version, she buys it sa may Forbes st. daw papuntang sta. mesa. pero ngayon di na nakarating sa akin at nagmulta pa yung cousin ko.

  2. we had a chance to work with mr. lapid and his wife and they said that the vinegar was a special concoction. food technologist daw kasi si mrs. lapid and she was the one who formulated the vinegar. as for the other chicharon makers claiming to be lapids, “pirated” versions lang sila. love their chicharon with laman. heart attack here we come. :-)

  3. in Vigan (Ilocos) we have someting similar o chicharon called “ukilas” and it is traditionally dipped in dinuguan, yummy but artery clogging hehe. . .

  4. in a desperate attempt to have chicharon here in Calgary, i tried making a batch and only succeeded in a whole afternoon of oil spatter evasion maneuvers…promised myself that the next time i try it, i will use a dehydrator first to squeeze every nano particle of liquid from the pork rinds.

    when we were living in Manila, my hubby used to drop by lapids ever so often to get his “white meat” treats. when it comes to chicharon, he turns color blind (white naman daw so in his book its healthy hehe)

  5. marketman,

    so when can we expect your post on my favorite Ilocos “cardiac special”, BAGNET?

    and to the other readers,
    where one can get authentic Bagnet in MMLA?

    thanks much!!!

  6. i love lapid’s chicharon! i also know the lapid’s chicharon store in balic-balic area but i’m not sure if its still there now

    spanx-
    i saw some ilocos bagnet being sold at the organic market in salcedo makati(sundays)

  7. true, their vinegar matches perfectly! i’d never have it with anything else. just like i’d never have Max Fried Chicken with any other ketchup but Jufran! hahaha

  8. Good to shower on top of monggo! Yummy! Which Lapid’s is fake nga and which is the authentic one? There’s the R. Lapid’s right and a plain Lapid’s? Enlighten me on this one. I personally prefer the one with laman and it makes for great ulam. Btw — please try the Monterey packaged chicharon. It rocks as well. I particularly like the spicy flavor.

  9. Spanx — check out the Greenhills tiangge or the one Salcedo Saturday market. I think they sell bagnet. Haven’t tasted it personally though but if it’s availability you’re after then that should work. Btw — how different is bagnet from lechon kawali?

  10. Yes indeed Lapid’s Chicharon wins hands down when it comes to the Chicharon. I have tried R. Lapid but the original still tastes the best or is it purely in the mind? I heard from someone that the Pork rind is not local but imported.The local market cannot fill in the demand and the quality leaves much to be desired in consistency. Probably why it tastes that goood. There are no hard to chew or “matigas” parts that can be a turn off when it hits your tooth. Notice too the color of the rind= no dark colors but creamy colored.

  11. edel, gigi:
    thanks for the info on Bagnet sourcing in the Metro!

    gigi,
    bagnet is the same cut of pork as lechon kawali, except that it’s deep friend and air-cooled several times achieve its crispy perfection, and to “preserve” it as well.

    it keeps for 3-4 days out in the open air, almost like an Ilocano jerky.

    in theory, you can also eat it like a beef jerky, no need to keep it in the refrigerator, just keep it close by and hack off a few crunchy bits whenever you feel like it!

  12. Geez, time to step in and comment! spanx et al, I am ashamed to say I have not eaten bagnet except as part of dishes such as pinakbet in homes that seem to put it on top! So I can’t say much about this delicacy…will have to try it on its own. Alilay, welcome and thanks for your many comments over the past few days! acidboy, the chicharon is just too incredibly “clean” and consistent, so I have to wonder if they have treated the fat somehow before frying… Wilson, that stuff you describe sounds like bangungot material! edel, the stuff is good. Nikka, I only eat jufran at Max’s! Gigi, I didn’t even know there was a whole real vs. original vs. relations issue… I just went to the one in Market!Market! and assumed it was THE one… I actually don’t know which one came first nor which one is better. Marga, can you imagine not having enough skin despite all the pork we eat as a nation? I wonder where they bring it in from…Australia?

  13. Here in Kuwait it’s illegal to eat chicharon.. it’s really one of the few foods we crave so very much here. As a substitute we buy chicken skin by the kilo from the markets here and make that into chicharon ourselves. You would not believe how cheap it is.. about P27 per kilo. But it sure is artery clogging so we don’t do it too often.

  14. … and here I am drooling
    all I could do is wish to be able to taste this Lapid chicharon
    though I have downloaded your recipe of homemade chicharon
    have not made it yet…pork with skin is abundant here

    In the old days they used to throw the skin away and the Filipinos would beg if they can have them. It was free in the old days.. now the greek butcher charges.

    Hit and miss ang quality dito….but when I crave for it
    I know exactly where to go.
    Sunday at the catholic cathedral in Athens there is always a manong/manang selling in the corner!!!

  15. haha you’re right MM and that is for merienda only . . . really?? you haven’t tried bagnet yet. . . ohhh how i wish i could have your address and i’ll send you some, it’s best with bagoong with tomatoes, onion and ginger (if you like) way way better than lechong kawali. . .

  16. THE ultimate suicidal food trip is lapid’s chicharon laman. i don’t know what it is about this thing but i remember vividly one time when an aunt of mine was in the hospital for a bypass procedure and another food-loving, big-framed auntie of mine (kandidata rin sa atake sa puso) came over to the hospital to visit. while waiting for the bypass operation to be completed, my big mama of an aunt opened up her big handbag and fished out – LAPID’s CHICHARON LAMAN! can you beat that? of course, two large bags of that sinful treat was demolished in seconds by everybody in that hospital room!!

  17. I’ll never forget a T-shirt my weight-challenged friend wore many, many years ago. It was a giveaway shirt from one of them Lapid stores. Proudly, shamelessly, it stated, in the boldest of fonts out front: CHICHARON MAY LAMAN.

  18. years ago, an acquaintance of mine formulated the “microwave chicharon” packed in foil pouches. it was part of their thesis in graduate school, and the target market was the oversea filipino. too bad the brains behind it migrated na to the states.

  19. The original is “Lapid’s Freshly Popped Chicharon”, yung R. Lapids are relatives daw na sumakaw sa popularity ng original. As expected. Heheheh

  20. Id concur with jher. A classmate of mine from college is the daughter of the owners of Lapid’s chicharon. According to them they started the business longer than R.lapids, who happened to be relatives (cousins, if i remember right), but that it was r. lapids’ who expanded the business at hi speed. according to them, one of the primary reasons why they did not expand as fast as the other company did, was that they wanted to maintain the quality. also, they make sure that the chicharon they make doenst last any longer than errr something close to an hour in the shelf. its a success story, really. and they make it all natural. the wife is a scientist and the husband is a businessman who, for the longest time, personally bought the pork skins from quiapo.

    whew. that was long.

  21. My favorite food!!! Yes, I agree with everyone who has said Lapid’s chicharon with laman is the best. It’s my favorite bar none.

    Marketman, Lapid’s chicharon with laman is the pictured in my post about chicharon for the last LP :)

    Gigi, the bag Marketman pictured here is the original (or what is said to be the original) one. I buy mine in White Plains. There you will see a sign that say “Lapid’s Freshly Popped Chicharon. Freshly Popped is our brand name. Lapid’s is generic.” I guess they had to do this because of all the different “Lapid’s” out there…

    Bagnet rocks! I like it with bagoong balayan :)

  22. The original Lapid’s chicharon-makers are meat sellers in Sta. Rita and Guagua, Pampanga. There’s a Lapid’s Bakery at the Guagua public market where you can get delicious chicharon.

    Other Lapids brought the recipes to Manila where it was commercialised, some more popular than others. No use quibbling over who came first. Hehehe!

  23. I’m sure all of us agree that chicharon is realy delicious. Can anyone help me find the recipe for lapid’s chicharon? I just started a small meat processing business. Ilocos longanisa is presently my main product but we also make bagnet when there are orders. I would realy love to make chicharon the way lapid’s does it

  24. ngeps, I am pretty sure that is a family trade secret of sorts…I have made chicharon before but it came out very different from Lapid’s…

  25. hingi po sana kmi ng inyong contact number dahil interesado po kming bumili ng inyong produkto

  26. pls provide us requirements for a product expansion here in zamboanga city.

    thank you and more power

    eric

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