Pork scratchings recipe

by | Sep 20, 2011 | 28 comments

Cheap pork dog treats

The truth is homemade dog treats are a whole lot healthier, cheaper and tastier than the treats you buy in pet shops.  Pork scratchings are a great dog treat.  So easy to make, no cooking skills required and cheap as chips.  I buy the pork rind from Morrisons supermarket for about 50p – 80p a pack, best times to find them at my store is Saturdays.  But if you know a nice butcher and are friendly then you could get it for free.

I made this last week and wasn’t sure how the dogs would like it but after giving a piece to my own dog I knew I was onto a winner.

EDIT: I took these scratchings with me dog walking today. Oh boy, did the dogs love it or what!  Went down a storm!

Right, let’s do this thing!

Ingredients

1 packet of pork rind

Method

How to store

As a general guide if meat protein is present in recipe then it will last around 3 to 5 days stored in a cool place.  If it has second class protein in it eg. cheese, lentils, eggs, etc, then they will store for about 10 days in a cool place. You can use cake tins lined with baking paper – greaseproof. If there is no meat or second class proteins present then it will last around 3 weeks before they go soft like human biscuits.

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By Jamie Shanks

BDWS is owned and run by me, Jamie Shanks. I’ve been a professional dog walker since 2010. When I’m not walking dogs, I’m usually at home entertaining my three dogs and attending to five hens and my vegetable garden. 

28 Comments

  1. So now I’m a little confused after reading the post and I figure you updated it now because one guys talked about boiling it for an hour.
    But I just put it in 185 for an hour? Guess I’ll find out and experiment

    Reply
  2. Hi Jamie – I have two daxies, one with IBS and have started making their food so I know exactly what’s in there. My boy seems to be allergic to chicken which seems to be in everything on supermarket shelves – he’s also incredibly fussy, so these recipes, together with my own ‘proper’ dinners are saving my life. Thank you so much for putting up this website. I would love to promote you on my own website somehow. I was thinking of doing a canine nutrition course but to be honest it’s just plain common sense isn’t it?
    My one question to you is – I was always told that pork isn’t good for dogs yet pork scratchings and pigs’ liver feature in your recipes. Please could you put my mind at ease over this as both my dogs go bonkers when there’s a sausage on the barbecue or a roast pork joing in the oven and I’d love to share! Thanks again. Gilly

    Reply
  3. Instead of drying out in the oven,could they dry in a dehydrator.just a thought.

    Reply
    • Yeah they can and I did consider adding that to the post but I dont think most people will have a dehydrator.

  4. Hi Jamie,
    Just made these today – fantastic! Cost 55p for 3 pieces of pork rind at Morri’s last night. I followed your instructions, boiled for an hour, put them rind side down in the oven, checked after 25 mins, then flipped them and cooked for another 5 mins. I have a fan oven and they went in at 190 degrees. I had to put them in a tub after the 3 of us (me and my 2 dogs!) “tested” quite a few bits.
    One thing: I did score them into squares with a very sharp knife before they went into the oven. Hope this helps!

    Reply
    • Thanks Rosie! Sounds like you did a good job. I will be redoing his recipe soon as I have found a better way of making them. They are delicious I just love them!

      Jamie

  5. Wow how great I have eaten loads of picks myself!!! lol
    so good please put up some more suggestions for my fussy Yorkies that hate processed dog food no wonder????
    Keep up the good work!!!

    Reply
    • Thanks Shirley!

      Hope to get a few more up soon!

  6. Now I know what to do with the pork rind I have had hanging around in the freezer. We are getting a Spanish galgo on Thursday so stocking up on treats. The sardine oatcakes went down well with our greyhound yesterday, today I’m making scratchings, tomorrow will be dried liver and liver cake, tuna loaf the day after 🙂 Thank you for all the recipes, keep up the good work

    Reply
    • Thanks Rowena! Good luck with this recipe, it’s the hardest one for me to get right. So let me know how you get on.

    • Hi again, I followed your recipe as written but turned the temperature up on the oven, which worked a treat, ahem ‘scuse the pun! Incidentally, as the oven was on, I whacked the tuna loaf in at the same time and it passed the taste test with flying colours… 3 times 😉

    • I’m glad to hear it worked out! 🙂

  7. Mmm trying another recipe of yours you’ve got me in the buzz 🙂

    Reply
    • Pssst – picked up loads of sausage meat from the reduced section, any ideas if I can do anything with that? Sausage cake?? lol

    • Well, if it was me, I’d add it with flour, an egg, crushed garlic clove, roll it, cut out biccies and bake!

    • Well, I hope you have more luck than I have. I’m still trying to get it right.

  8. Great news about pup. My canine dietician is currently experimenting with large teething biccies for pups…very hard ones!

    Reply
    • Love it! I will be watching and waiting……

  9. Gotta say though – love your recipes! Just made banana bombs and sardine oatcakes, some for now and some for the freezer. Now have a 9 week old goldendoodle puppy to go with Lola, our big goldendoodle, so it’s treats, treats and more treats – for training purposes, obviously. No fat dogs here!!

    Reply
  10. Yes and I scored it a bit more. I am baffled! Dogs still liked it but I had to cut it with scissors as it was chewy and bendy even when cool.

    Reply
    • lol, oh dear! I’ll buy some again later and check I got the recipe right.

  11. Jamie, mine aren’t crispy after 45 mins at 180°. Still cooking 30 mins later! Hope they get crispy soon. Higher temperature might work better, perhaps?

    Reply
    • Hi Sue! Is the Pork Belly scored?

  12. Hi Jamie

    I made this today and my 2 dogs loved them it was so easy to make as well

    Reply
    • Thanks C! As treats go this is one of the least popular ones but I think it’s great as it’s easy to get, cheap to buy and simple to make!

    • Hiya Jamie sorry meant to ask can this be frozen ?

    • yes, just freeze as soon as it cools and it should last a long time!

  13. I took the scratchings that I made while doing this recipe to the dogs I was walking today. Oh boy, did they love it, went down a storm!

    Reply

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