Grand UK 2005 Scratching Tasting
In July 2005, I visited the UK and spent a few hours driving around buying packets of pork scratchings from a variety of shops and other places around the West Midlands.  I took the packets to my client's office and invited colleagues to try them all.   With a guest packet brought over with me from Spain, this gave us 13 different scratchings to try, covering traditional, crunch and spicy varieties.

To keep it simple, to maximize the level of participation, I just asked for like/dislike views, to be expressed by ticking one of two columns on a chart listing each packet.  I made a note of comments to aid  my interpretation of the simple results and the final list gives an indication of which were most popular.  Some with low tryout rates were liked, but the numbers trying them didn't, in my opinion, justify being highlighted.

Do watch out for the forthcoming results of our 2009 tasting (I know, ridiculously late, etc).

All comments/ratings are the personal opinions of the reviewers.



Packet
Rating
Liked/Tried
 Scratching Comments

10/11

 Casa Pons Torreznos Morro 150g, Spain:
Like a dried out version of UK traditional pork scratchings, with a very porky smell and flavour.  Lightly salted, very crunchy, but not rock hard.

7/9

 Freshers Foods Top Notch Pork Scratchings 75g, Wigan:
Traditional style with good flavour, though less fatty and a bit lighter than the usual.

8/9

 G. Simmons & Sons Pork Scratchings, Walsall:
A lovely traditional pork scratching.  Crisp and crunchy, with a good selection of sizes, shapes and meaty chunks.  Easy on the seasoning, to avoid hiding the scratching flavour.
 

6/9

 Green Top Hot & Spicey Pork Crunch 30g, Tamworth, Staffs:
Crunchy, puffy style, similar packaging, but deceptively hot seasoning (curry powder, hot red pepper, cumin & spice extracts added). Great for a change.

2/4

 KVE Crown Roast Pork Crunch 20g, Tipton, West Midlands:
Pork crunch.  Very light, with some seasoning.

7/10

 KVE Traditional Butchers Pork Scratchings 100g, Tipton:
A lovely big serving of good, traditional pork scratchings.

3/7

 KVE Tasty Pork Scratchings 30g, Tipton:
Small, white plastic bag. Very crunchy, usually small, crispy pieces but some interesting wafer-like strips of thin, crispy skin.

3/3

 Morrisons Pork Crunch 35g:
Somewhere between traditional and crunch styles in texture, though more towards the crunch.  Dry, crispy and pleasantly seasoned.

3/7

 Morrisons Spicy Pork Crunch 35g:
Somewhere between traditional and crunch styles in texture.  Dry and crispy with a deceptive kick to the spice.  Curry-like, but definitely hotter after a few seconds of lulling you into a false sense of security.

4/4

 Morrisons Pork Scratchings 75g:
Somewhere between traditional, crunch and Spanish styles in texture, but closer to the traditional.  Dry, light and crispy with a decent amount of flavour and seasoning.

5/11

 Mr P's Pork Scratchings 70g, Walsall:
Crispy, near-traditional style.  Good flavour and perfectly seasoned, with pieces in a variety of sizes and textures. Available on-line.

9/9

 Ms Traditional Pork Scratchings 99g, Wolverhampton:
Another good-sized serving of dense, good traditional scratchings.   A good dose of seasoning, nice and fatty.  Some hard ones, where the usual warning about teeth comes in useful.

5/6

 RayGray Snacks Pork Scratchings 100g, Staffordshire:
Heavy, well-seasoned, crunchy traditional style in a simple plastic bag.