There's not only a love for richly flavored offal dishes in Chinese cuisine, but also a craving for the collagen-rich rind and skin, which can make delicious dishes to rival the better cuts of meat. Three types of rind or skin are commonly used as a main ingredient for their distinct and ideal texture: pork rind, chicken skin and fish skin. Although the skins of other animal proteins are also edible, these three are distinctive for their rich flavor and soft, smooth or crisp texture. Pork rind Pork rind is the most easily accessible ingredient as it’s often sold by meat vendors as an individual cut. The price is cheap but, with the right recipes, pork rind can become an upscale delicacy fitted for entertaining guests at feasts. A traditional pork rind recipe is pork rind jelly, which is a crystal-like savory starter dish. There are two versions of pork rind jelly. The kind with thin strips of cooked pork rind mixed evenly in the jelly, which is more common, and the pure jelly made of the soup from boiling the pork rind, which is favored by those who are not attracted to the texture of the pork rind. The fresh pork rind is thoroughly cleaned to remove any excess residue and hair. Every bit of the fatty meat and oil is scraped off, which reduces the fat content and is an essential step to achieve the crystal-clear look. The pork rind is then boiled in water until it’s soft enough to stick a chopstick through. Then there’s a second round of cleaning to remove the rest of the fat, followed by a salt rub to clean the rind and free it from the meaty smell and taste. The clean pork rind is then sliced thinly — the thinner the slice, the better the jelly. The strips of pork rind are then boiled and stewed in water with cooking wine, ginger and star anise for over an hour, during which time it’s important to remove the white foam that forms on top. The pork rind and soup is then poured into clean, dry containers to cool, taking care not to move the containers too much to help the jelly come together. The bits of soft pork rind add a chewier texture to the jelly, and it’s usually sliced and served with a vinegar-based sauce with additional soy sauce for saltiness and chili oil for an extra kick. Pork rind jelly without the rind can also be broken into small pieces and mixed into dumpling fillings, so they’ll become a delicious spoonful of “soup” when the dumplings are boiled or steamed. The “soup” made of rind jelly is quite rich and thick, adding to the fat content of the filling for a more sumptuous flavor. The key to incorporating pork rind jelly in the filling is to keep the temperature cool enough so the jelly remains solid. Pork rind can also be cleaned and sliced into strips to make spicy stir-fries with flavorful chilis, or stewed with herbs and seasonings to make regular dishes. The pork rind is collagen-rich. Coated with a rich sauce, it makes a great dish to serve with steamed rice. Fried pork rind is a crunchy snack that requires a simple seasoning of salt. The pork rind is boiled and dried before deep-frying so that the moisture and excess fat is removed. Chicken skin Chicken skin is loved by many. Nutritionally it’s an ingredient to stay away from, but the flavor and smooth texture makes it irresistible. The chicken skin in regular chicken dishes such as baizhanji (sliced cold chicken) and rich chicken stews is already delicious, but people are looking for more. Chicken skin skewers are very popular in Chinese grill restaurants. The skin with some fat still attached is put on skewers and then grilled over charcoal until the fat drips down and the edges become crispy. Deep-fried chicken skin or baked chicken skin is a great snack. The chicken skin is very fatty, so after marinating them with cooking wine, ginger and garlic, the chicken skin is put in a dry pan and fried over low heat until all the oil comes out and the skin becomes thin and crunchy. A seasoning with lots of chili powder and cumin is a must to boost the flavor. If you are frying chicken skin in an air-fryer, it’s going to produce quite a large mount of oil, which can be cooled, filtered and sealed in a bottle for future use, such as in stir-fries. Sour bamboo shoots and chicken skin soup is a recipe featured in “A Dream of Red Mansions” by Cao Xueqin. Auntie Xue made the soup using naturally fermented bamboo shoots, the flavor of which can whet the appetite, and the chicken skin is rich in protein and fat. Fish skin Fish skin is thin, soft and delicate. When cooking fish, it’s not an easy task to keep the skin intact. This requires certain cooking techniques. In China, fish skin alone can be a sought-after delicacy, often served as an appetizer and especially popular in Guangdong Province. In traditional Chinese medicine, fish skin is regarded as a nourishing and mild ingredient. Some delis sell fish skin as a ready-to-eat dish and it can also be found in certain Cantonese restaurants. The dish uses raw fish skin, preferably from the black carp. After removing all the scales, the raw skin is soaked in chilled or iced brine of cooking wine for a while to remove the fishy taste and make it crunchier. The dressing for fish skin is composed of soy sauce, ginger, cilantro, chili oil, vinegar, spicy small red chilis and sesame oil. It’s a strong yet refreshing mix that can boost the appetite. Deep-fried peanuts are sprinkled on top for a crunchy texture and nutty flavor. Another version of fish skin salad is to use dried fish skin, which is reconstituted by soaking in water with some ginger, cooking wine and edible alkali (it takes two hours with alkali and overnight without it). On hotter days, this step must be completed in the fridge to maintain a low temperature and reduce the fishiness. The fish skin is then blanched for a few seconds and immediately put into a bowl of iced water for half an hour to achieve the meaty and bouncy texture. The scales of the fish, which are often discarded as waste, can also be delicacies, such as fish scale jelly or deep-fried crunchy fish scales. The jelly is made by boiling the clean, fresh scales of river fish with ginger, scallions and salt, then the scales are taken out to cool down the soup until it becomes jelly-like. It’s served with a dressing with a base of light soy sauce and vinegar. Fish skin crisps are a rich snack made of deep-fried fish skin, sometimes coated with seasoning or salted egg yolk, a very popular choice that highlights distinct sweetness and saltiness. It’s very crunchy, flavorful and has almost no fishiness. The price of fish skin crisps is much higher than potato chips, but it’s worth it for fans of fish and seafood. They can lose their texture after opening, so a tight seal is a must once a fresh bag is opened. Fish skin peanuts are a very popular snack. Peanuts are coated in “skin” made of seasoned flour batter and then deep-fried to achieve a crunchy texture. The peanuts don’t necessarily contain fish skin, but the sweet and salty skin kind have a umami flavor, excellent with tea or wine.