Cracklings (American) or crackling (British) is a crisp, deep fried food that may be made from various animals. Pork rind cracklings are popular in the American south. The skin of all kinds of poultry are used to make cracklings, including duck, chicken, goose and game birds. Some classic dishes, such as cassoulet, depend on a top crust made crunchy by turning the skin of the duck used in the dish into a topping. Cracklings of all kinds are eaten plain, folded into breads and dumplings, and sprinkled atop dishes on their way to the table to add crunch. They are part of all traditional European cuisines, since the use of all parts of a butchered animal was nutritionally and economically important. They are called gribenes and traditionally made from goose or chicken in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.
Cracklings can be a byproduct of rendering fat for culinary use, or can be made by cutting the skin of poultry into pieces that are deep-fried in rendered fat until golden brown.
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