Pork crackling

Saturday:

Last night I tried a new recipe, pulled pork. I thought it would be quite healthy (hah!) as there was no added fat at all, the marinade was orange and lime juice with about eight different herbs and spices. I just left out the salt. It had its three hours of slow cooking and came out of the oven all falling-apart tender.

So I started to pull it apart with forks. I had bought tortillas for the others, I was having mine wrapped in lettuce leaves. There were some crunchy overcooked bits around the edges, so I ate those as I worked. Delicious. And the crackling. It was on the top after the last turn in the juices so it was all nice and crispy. So I nibbled at that too. Just a bit here and a bit there. But the "pulling" process took longer than I expected and there was very little of the crackling left when I was done. I discarded all the semi-dissolved fat that was under the crackling.

You were supposed to strain off the fat and toss the remaining juices back in with the shredded pork, but I seemed to have only fat left in the pan. Indeed, when it congealed later it was all fat. So I didn't use that. The shredded pork looked pretty good. But I was feeling oddly full. And then I bit down on a whole clove. I know some people used to chew then to freshen breath or something, but I found it revolting. I really struggled not to throw up as I tried to scrape it out of my back teeth. Really horrid taste.

I at with the kids and had one tiny lettuce leaf wrap and I was done. Very full. And still a bit nauseous. As the evening went on I felt more and more queasy. I had a shot of Cointreau (orange liqueur) to settle my stomach and it helped a bit.

This morning I felt much better, although the smell of pork fat lingering in the kitchen still turned my stomach. I had a slice of watermelon and a cup of tea for breakfast. Now I feel truly nauseated. I've been fighting it all morning. Some dry rice crackers (not on my pre-diabetes approved list, but good for nausea) have helped a little but I still feel sick. I'm not longer sure it is just from too much crackling. Would the effects of that last so long? Maybe I'm actually sick.

That was a longer story about me feeling sick than I had planned!

Would pulled pork still turn out tender if I removed all skin and fat before I cooked it?