Review on Mercier 56-Blade Professional Needle Meat Tenderizer with Cleaning Brush - Perfect for Steak, Chicken, Fish, and Pork by Leslie Little

This is yet another time I made a mistake. I bought to make Chinese style chicharrones. This means that after the pork is properly seared, the underside of the pork belly will be soft and chewy and the skin will be deliciously crispy. In Chinese cuisine it is called Siu Yuk. In Latin America it is Chicharrones. To prepare the pork belly for roasting or frying, the skin must be dried as much as possible. You get this by not piercing the skin as deeply. So adding salt and vinegar or baking soda will remove the liquid in the skin. It was the idea to use this device. In theory, it is suitable for this task. It doesn't penetrate the skin at all. I've even used a kitchen hammer - to no avail. Conclusion: Meat softens well, but it doesn't cope with pork skin. To be honest the ad says it can do what I wanted it to do. So 2 stars for me, 4 stars for the product.