During the holidays, my grandpa likes to have family over his house so he can cook for all of us. He has made arroz con grandules, chivo, y pernil as main meals that would eat together. Sometimes he makes a salad to just so we can have as much food as we can on our plate. Every so often, however, my grandpa would make chicarron de pollo — Puerto Rican fried chicken — and I can attest to how eager my cousin, Armando, and I get when we see it. We immediately go after the chicarron de pollo and start biting into the crunchy and flavorful pieces of fried chicken.
What makes this food special to me is the fact that it is a “family food.” What do I mean by this? Well, when this food is prepared it is usually done whenever all of my family are together in one place. I don’t get to see my grandpa too often since he lives in New Jersey, but during the times that I do I look forward to when we can sit together and have dinner. A bowl filled with chicharron de pollo awaits is placed on the table alongside the other dishes that my grandpa made and everything disappears within minutes. I’m glad to say that I have grandparents that know how to cook and I can have these experiences with them in conjunction with food.
Like the previous Food Special Series posts, I wanted to add a video that showed the process of making chicarron de pollo so that anyone reading this can make some at home to have a taste of Puerto Rican styled fried chicken. Watching this video made me wish I could visit my grandpa and have some homemade chicarron de pollo. I’m going to see if I can make some at home sometime because I know I’ve missed eating this food and its been too long since I’ve had it. If you decide to make it, don’t forget about squeezing some limón on top!
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