We call them pork scratchings here. Tesco sells them as do most pubs.

Yes Tesco sells 2 kinds, one that has no info on back and the butchers pub style (which I use) that have 0 carbs. But they are very salty so remember to up your water intake when you have them. And Enjoy they are yummy!

Thanks Lisa & Hev! I was not on Atkins the last time I was in Scotland and was in a panic thinking I would have to go six weeks without my "Pork Scratchings". I didn't even know what they would be called in the UK if they did exist there! hahaaha

In the olden days, "BA" - Before Atkins.....I used to enjoy Walker's Prawn Cocktail Potato Chips". I would bring them home in my suitcase. I adored them. I know I won't be tempted to have any because I can use my Butcher's Pub Style now that I know what to look for.

I am wishing you guys well on this diet. I have been on for a little over 2 months and have only dropped 10 to 12 pounds depending on how the scales are wobbling in the morning - my weight seems to go up and down a lot - probably a female response from hormones and water weight - But I am committed and has had no problems and no cravings.

Let me know how you two are doing......Joy

Hey Joy,
Why don't you start a journal and I can come and chat to you there.
You can come and visit me on mine if you like and it doesn't all have to be Atkins chat!
Sorry to hear you have slow weight loss I do too a bit it can be a bit disheartening can't it.
The way I see it is that it's going in the right direction, and at least I am doing something about it.
Hope to hear from you soon Hev. (Heather)

Hev,

Thanks for the reply. I just found this site over the weekend and in the strangest way. I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Edinburgh and how easy it would be to stay on Atkins while traveling. I can have all those "fry ups", as you call them! I can have steak, fish, salad and green veggies. I figured it was going to be so much easier than being on previous diets I had been on and then I thought of my "pork rinds/pork skins/chicarrones" those are the American names for pork scratchings. What would I do without them?

So, I just put "Scotland Pork Rinds" into the Google search engine and Voila! I found this site. I am so pleased because it is good to have a source of communciation with my UK friends on the Atkins Diet. I have introduced a friend in Scotland on the diet, too and he can come here and chat with his locals! So, I am glad to have found you.

I see we have approximately the same beginning weight, present weight and goal weight, so we probably have a great deal in common. I am at my office now, but will start a journal as soon as I get a chance. I will love to communicate with you. Perhaps you can help me with more products to be on the lookout for in the UK.

More later,
Joy

Hello Joy! I bet you're looking forward to your trip now that you can find your pork rinds.

I find it so much easier to eat out on this plan - it's great!

the nearest thing to chiccarones in the UK is known as Pork Crunch, NOT pork scratchings. They are lighter and less dangerous on the teeth :-)

Morrisons supermarkets do their own brand in plain and spicy. Excellent for breading.

Its strange for me reading some of these threads. I have spent all my life living in the midlands, and grew up and worked in the heart of it.

Here we live on scratchings, Im not sure how many different brands are made here but it is well into double figures. I hadnt realised that it was difficult to get them elsewhere.

anyway, the Black Country Dialect dictionary list
Scratchings Black Country delicacy - pork rind deep fried

If you tell me the consistancy you want, id be glad to steer you in the right direction.

by the way, pork crunch is a type of scratching but not really a scratching, as it is mostly air.

KVE used to be the hardest, many a black country dentist has been kept in a living due to these rock like pieces of pork.

At the moment, Roberts is crown prince, with a fair size bag and a decent texture. They also sent some to Iraq recently for the soilders (not really clever as they are sending pork to a muslim country)

hope some of this helped, but i doubt it.

PS, black country = west midlands

yes I have tasted some really nice scratchings on my travels, mainly in East Anglia and the Midlands. You're lucky to have regular access to such delights!!

On this site though, and many other US based sites they refer to rinds and pork crunch is the nearest thing to chiccarones (pork rinds). In the States you can buy them in bags and "pop" them in the microwave. Yes, they are quite airy, too.

You can also have them shipped over. See www.microwaveporkrinds.com. They also do a number of low carb dip mixes.

Ah, I see, not quite a scratching and not quite pork crunch.

I think you will find a variety call "Pork Crackling"

Crackling is a bit between both of them, a bit airy but not quite like Crunch, which contains a lot of air. Not many of the scratching factorys make it,
but i have found...

http://www.freshersfoods.co.uk/

Which is worth enquiring about as they distinguish between the three types.
Aslo take a look at this review of Scratchins!
http://web.bham.ac.uk/s.m.stocks.ce...ratchinsNav.htm

hey kondor,
Just wanted to say welldone on the giving up smoking.

Hello all!!
I too love pork rinds/scratchings but instead of trawling the country for suitable ones (i.e the kind without carbs) i tend to make my own...i just get a big piece of rind from my butcher, dry it thoroughly (otherwise the scratchings won't crisp up properly) and cut into strips half an inch wide. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt (i like maldon) and put in the oven at 200 degrees for around 30-35 minutes!
ax

Ok, so i know that this topic has been going on and on, on many threads but im still confused LOL!

Can i have scratchings puffy or hard, or not?

I normally buy the ones that are supplied to Asda but buy them direct. They are made by G.Simmons and Sons, around 60p for 90g in Asda but if you go to their unit in Walsall its £1 per lb and 1lb of puffy scratchings is huge!

So can i keep on having these as a snack/treat or should i just give them up as they rusk in them (it doesnt mention sugar in the ingredients)

Thanks for all your help.

Emma

P.S. kondor - im just down the road from you in Clayhanger...small world!

I dont think it really matters
It is just some recepies require "pork rinds" so a few folks on here want to get as close to pork rinds as they can.
ALL these products have a main ingredient of Pork Rinds, and when I say main, I mean very main!!!

Some DO contain sugar, but i no longer take sugar and yet have never tasted a sweet scratching.
Simmons are great arnt they
It is unbelivable to me that some areas of the UK cant buy these. Recenmtly a local shop (corner shop) I went to was displaying no less than 7 different variations.

If you look around you will find Pork Crackling, which is a harder variation of pork crunch, but a lot less harder than a scratching. These are, apparently fairly close to the USA pork rinds.

I just love scratchins (can you tell?!?!) I find that I get through a load of the things.

I buy all types of pork scratchings. The only type i try to stay away from are what my local sainsbury's sell and this is only because there is no carb info on the back.

At the moment i am munching my way through a load i got at PoundLand, like many others they do contain rusk and according to the ingredients sugar but they contain less than 0.1g of carbs, I haven't noticed any slowing down or stalling in my weight loss so for me these scratchings are ok.

We are all different when it comes to what stalls our weight loss and what doesn't so it really is down to trial and error.