OK, so the headline gave it away. The above glamour shot is not a snap of a macaroon, or a slice of cake.
It's quite simply the most decadent fried pork snack that has ever passed my lips. I love pork rinds, of every type from the cheesy little bags of Rolets that used to go for a quarter at my local bodega, to the huge sheets of fried pork skin the size of my face that I've picked up in Mexican grocery stores. And I love chicharrones, too.
But when I made my way to the back of Muncan Food Corp., a Romanian deli in my native Queens, which in itself is nothing less than a shrine to the pig, with long rows of sausages and smoked pigs feet hanging above a display case rife with such delicacies as lamb prosciutto, I stopped in my tracks when I saw a metal scoop perched atop a mountain of crisp, golden meaty nuggets.
"What's that," I asked. The friendly counterman replied, "pork rinds," and offered a sample. The boys at Muncan Food Corp. can call them whatever they like. But what they're selling is rich, buttery chunks of fried pork belly sprinkled with coarse salt. These morsels combine all that's good about pork rinds and chicharrones, and are yet so much more, shattering with greasy, porcine goodness in every mouthful.
Muncan Food Corp. has three locations in Queens: 60-86 Myrtle Ave., Ridgewood, (718) 417-5095; 43-09 Broadway, Long Island City, (718) 278-8847; and 676 Seneca Ave., Ridgewood, (718) 418-2122.
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