The Unique Crispy Fried Snack Johnny Cash Loved To Munch On

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Country music legend Johnny Cash was known for such hits as "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire" among a long list of others, but he was also quite the Southern food aficionado. He was known for his chili, which swapped out ground beef for steak, and he had a long list of favorite foods. Among the old-school dishes Cash enjoyed were Southern staples like fried catfish and cornbread, along with a lesser-known snack: deep-fried chicken skin. 

If you've never had deep-fried chicken skins, it's as delicious as it sounds — crispy, crunchy, rich in umami flavor, and way easier to snack on than fried chicken. It is similar to fried pork skins (also known as cracklins), and as addictive as potato chips while offering an added boost of protein. Cash's son, John Carter Cash, revealed in a 2013 Reddit AMA (ask me anything) that his father loved snacking on these Southern bites. Growing up on a sharecropping farm in rural Arkansas, Johnny Cash developed a lifelong taste for these country classics.

Today, you can get them premade from various brands, including Flock Chicken Skin Crisps. But you can also make this snack in an air fryer or the oven. While it is unclear how Johnny Cash made his, one classic method of cooking this snack is to season the skin with various spices like garlic powder or paprika before dredging it in flour and submerging it in hot oil. Though if you choose to make it at home, be sure to avoid the safety mistake of removing raw chicken skin with your bare hands.

But fried chicken skin isn't just a Southern specialty; variations of the dish appear around the world. There's the Ashkenazi Jewish dish gribenes, which is chicken skin and onions fried in chicken fat, and the Latin American chicharrón de pollo, which is popular in places like Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Thailand offers nang kai thot, and the Philippines has tsitsarong manok, both similar to the Southern version but seasoned differently. Whichever you choose — the American style or something with a more international flavor — you'll definitely need to take a page from Johnny Cash's book and try snacking on fried chicken skin.