Ingredients
Scale
3 Prime ribeye steaks, 10-12oz each
1 cup lard or tallow
2 tsp kosher salt
1–2 cups guacamole to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Place the lard or tallow into a deep skillet or wok style pan, then place over high heat. The trick to this recipe is the get the fat very hot and keep it as such during the cooking, so the meat can properly brown to an intense color and texture without overcooking.
- While the fat is heating, cut the ribeye steaks into cubes between 0.5-1 inch thick. It’s ok if they are not all uniform, this will just give you some smaller crunchy bits, and larger steaky pieces.
- Sprinkle the pieces with 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt, then carefully add them to the pan. The fat should start bubbling vigorously as soon as the meat hits it. Use a heat-tolerant spoon/spatula to move the steak around for 1-2 minutes, ensuring it doesn’t stick to the pan.
- Leave the steak to continue shallow frying, stirring every 3-4 minutes to ensure everything is cooking evenly. The total cook time will be about 10-14 minutes.
- The chicharrones are ready once they have turned a dark shade of golden brown – if you take them off earlier, they will be more chewy than crispy.
- Remove the chicharron from the lard, then sprinkle with the remaining salt. For a serving suggestion, pile them on top of mounds of cool guacamole – it makes a great dipping treat.
Notes
- this recipe can produce some smoke from the high temps required. I cooked it outside over my grill.