What is the crunchy heel?
The crispy heel is a Philippine food that is basically deep fried pig joints, even if it includes cooking more than just joints. The entire hind leg of the pig is boiled in water with a certain spice until it is tender. The meat then cools down completely and fry until the skin is very crunchy. However, the seemingly simple cooking process is loaded with some techniques that could eventually prove very dangerous. Traditionally, the leg or heel is served with sauce sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar with several hot chili peppers thrown to heat. The water is usually spicy with salt, pepper, onion and bay leaves. Other additions to the boiling liquid are fish sauce for taste, garlic and sometimes anise. The first is edible soda. The second, less traditional tenderizer is soda. Adding soda offers meat due to high acidity of liquid and at the same time provides taste in the form of sugars in the drink. However, there is no real reason to add any charging agent to the water, except for shortening the time after whichu must cook the meat.
Once the crunchy heel is cooked, it is allowed to cool completely. This can be done by draining and then cooling the foot, otherwise the leg can be left to sit overnight. The third method involves freezing of the foot and promotes the formation of water crystals inside the meat and leather. These methods allow the gelatin to cool and set the gelatin inside, prevent it from spilling into the oil and making the meat more difficult. The cooling time also gives the skin time to loss of water absorbed during boiling, which helps crunchy heel to develop dry, crispy skin.
Chilled dried leg is finally deep spine. This is a dangerous procedure that can be further complicated by the cooling method used. Cartilage and other structures inside the pig leg releases the liquid into the oil that causes it to spray; This is inevitable. If the foot is frozen as required by some recipes, the hot oil spray oil will be completely uncontrolledTali and potentially dangerous. It is best to use a pot with a lid for deep frying a crunchy heel or for cooking outdoors.
As soon as the skin becomes crispy, the crispy heel can be removed from the oil, exhausted and ready to serve. It is traditional to produce soy sauce sauce, vinegar, onion, chili pepper and garlic, although almost any vinegar sauce can be used. The leg can be carved before serving or can be presented whole for guests to carve themselves.