scrunchion

plural scrunchions · alternative scruncheon · alternative scrunchin

1. CanadaNewfoundlandplural normallyA small piece of pork rind or fatback fried until rendered and crispy.

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   But they remember fishing into the winter. “Christ,” says Bernard, “out there handlining in the snow. You’d come in numb. We didn’t have these modern clothes. Just wool. Or if they had them, we didn’t know.” “No,” said Leonard, “they weren’t there.” “Christ, it was cold.” “We didn’t have any choices.” “Couldn’t even put this much salt beef in.” The conversation turns to a favorite Newfoundland topic, how unhealthy their diet is. Traditional Newfoundland food is based on pork fat. Everything is cooked in it and then seasoned with scrunchions—rendered, diced fatback. “Good for the arteries,” Bernard says with a laugh.

   1997, Mark Kurlansky, “Prologue: Sentry on the Headlands (So Close to Ireland)”, in Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Walker, →ISBN