{{Short description|Latin cuisine pickled pork skin}} {{italic title}} [[File:CUERITOS CON SALSA VALENTINA.jpg|thumb|upright|{{lang|es|Cueritos}} with Valentina hot sauce and lime]] [[File:CueritosChurrosDF.JPG|thumb|250px|Vendors selling churros and cueritos (in a spicy sauce) at the Plaza de Toros in Mexico City]]
'''''Cueritos''''' (diminutive of {{Language with name/for|es|cuero,|skin/hide|paren=none}}; also '''{{lang|es|cueritos en vinagre}}''')<ref name="glass">{{cite web|archive-date=2012-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119072433/http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2011/04/cueritos_pickled_pork_rinds_fr.php |author=Erica O'Neil |title=Cueritos: Pickled Pork Rinds from Tortas Paquime |url=http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2011/04/cueritos_pickled_pork_rinds_fr.php}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mexicanfoods.blogspot.com/2007/05/chicharrn-with-cueritos.html |title=Mexican Food: Chicharrón with Cueritos |publisher=Mexicanfoods.blogspot.com |date=2004-02-23 |access-date=2013-07-19}}</ref> are Latin cuisine pickled pork rinds. A type of ''encurtido'' (pickled appetizer), the vinegar is typically heavily seasoned, with ingredients including pineapple, piloncillo, cloves, peppercorns, chile de árbol and oregano.<ref name=cocina>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacocinadeleslie.com/2009/10/encurtidos.html|title=La Cocina de Leslie|access-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref>
''Cueritos'' are used to make a type of cemita and can be used in other dishes like tostadas. ''Cueritos'' are sometimes served in a glass with strips of the pickled pork rind alongside a slaw of cabbage, cucumber, lime, and chile sauce.<ref name=glass/> The Mexican street food (antojito) known as ''"tostilocos"'' are made by slicing nacho-flavored tostito chips vertically and topping them with cucumber, cueritos, lime juice, Valentina hot sauce, chamoy, tajín (seasoning) chili powder, salt and "Japanese peanuts" (peanuts encased in a crunchy brown flour shell).
In Acatlán, Hidalgo the feast in honor of the Archangel Michael is held from 20–29 September, with religious events, traditional dances and traditional foods such as ''cueritos'' made with chili pepper sauce and varieties of pulque.
Pickling differentiates ''cueritos'' from ''chicharrón,'' which is fried pork skin. In Spain the ''chicharrón'' is the rind with fat still attached and ''cuerito'' is a rind with no fat attached.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RbOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA285|title=Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions [3 volumes]|first=María|last=Herrera-Sobek|date=July 16, 2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=978-0-313-34340-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In Mexico, ''chicharrón'' is the ''cuerito'' or pig skin fried to a crisp like cracklings in the southern states and ''cueritos'' is soft, deep fat fried pig skin, chopped and used for tacos.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}
In Mexico, natural, uncured ''cueritos'', usually the thick pig skin without the fat attached, are always combined with ''"macisa",'' solid or thick meat, in carnitas which is deep fat fried pig parts sold for tacos. The tacos are served with a choice of meats, chopped, in 1 or 2 soft corn tortillas, covered with chopped cilantro and onion, and the choice of a hot chilli sauce. They are a popular street food that can be found in public markets, most ''carnicerías'', or meat stores, and many restaurants.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}
==Cuts of ''cueritos''== ''Cuerito grueso'' is thick pigskin from the pig ears, face and feet. ''Cuerito delgado'' is from the pig's body and is thinner.<ref name=cocina/> Either type can be pickled (cueritos en vinagre) which are a type of ==See also== * ''Chicharon''
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Mexican cuisine}}
Category:Mexican pork dishes Category:Latin American pork dishes Category:Spanish cuisine Category:Venezuelan cuisine Category:Pickles