To flavour or not to flavour?

We really love traditional scratchings. You know… the ones with that three Michelin star flavouring they call salt. We sometimes see his little friend ‘E621 -‘MSG’, and less frequently we see their even smaller brother ‘yeast extract’. All of these are a welcome addition to a sturdy foundation. They are all within the bounds of the term ‘seasoned’ (not flavoured).

Pork Scratchings with added flavourings have come a long way since those heady days 10 years ago (yes TEN! We were there.) in 2007 when Mr Porkys blew our tiny minds with the prototypal ‘brown sauce’ flavoured pork scratching… Hats off to you, oh brave explorer, for trying to expand the market that so many have now come to join.

The expansion of the hairy bar snack market is a good thing, and scratchings with flavours are the obvious next step on the ladder to true Nirvana. When done well a flavoured scratching can shock and excite in equal measure. But flavourings are not for the faint-hearted producer, as even the singular addition of salt to a bag of scratchings can go so drastically wrong as we have seen and reviewed on so many occasions.

Taste is such a subjective thing, and if you ask people about pork scratchings you will always delight one consumer and disgust another. Just ask the next few people you see at the bar when you go to the pub, “Do you like pork scratchings?”. I know the responses trust me! I can envisage happy eyes looking up towards the memories in warm reminiscence, and others with eyes wide open, neck craned back in revulsion at the thought (of something imagined but probably not tried). This is not an illustration of the Marmite dictum we hear every day. It’s not like that at all, because nothing on earth ‘is like Marmite‘ (not even Marmite), everything is somewhere between these two illusory goal posts, but pork scratchings really do seem to come the closest to the phrase.

If the question is ‘To flavour or not to flavour?’ then the answer is ‘yes’.

So to the title of this post, Pork Scratchings with Toffee & Pepperberry Salt. I have no idea if these are the future. Have we reached the Nth degree yet?
They look amazing and it sounds like they taste the same.
Long live the new, there are no sacred cows
Have a look…

Pork Scratchings with Toffee and Pepperberry Salt. Perfect pork crackling with a salty-sweet kick, goes well with cider or beer.

Source: Pork Scratchings with Toffee & Pepperberry Salt | Belly Rumbles

In case you get this far into this post, and you were wondering about Marmite… I like it, quite a lot, it’s alright you know.

Be lazy efficient

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