4. Skin is in
Dubbed pig skin, chicharrones, cracklings or pork skin, mentions of the pork product are up 0.7%; but like xo sauce, mentions are much more prominent in apps and sides, the latter of which saw mentions of the ingredient rise 7.7% in the past year. Some 21% of consumers say they would eat pork crackling at restaurants, according to Technomic’s Beef & Pork Consumer Trend Report. Crispy pork skins are light, airy and crunchy, often served as a shareable item by itself or in a sampler. Chevys Fresh Mex recently launched $4 chicharrones as an LTO, while Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque debuted chili topped with an IPA-infused chicharron.