In Rightpondia bits of pork skin rendered down in this way are called ‘pork scratchings’ and are widely sold in little packets in pubs, just like crisps (= US potato chips’) and peanuts. Some manufacturers, who evidently feel that ‘scratchings’ has a distasteful or ungenteel ring to it, label them ‘pork cracklings*’. But nobody calls them that – you see a card of little packets marked ‘Pork Cracklings’ and say to the barmaid, “A pint of Abbots and a packet of scratchings please”.
Over here we don’t normally treat any other kind of skin in the same way, but if you were to say ‘chicken scratchings’ I imagine most Rightpondians would work out what you meant.
* In the UK ‘crackling’, properly understood, is the crisp skin on a joint of roast pork. Whoever carves and serves is likely to say “Who would like a bit of the crackling?”
But if any skin is left over from the meal and you render it down in the oven and drain off the fat, it’s no longer crackling but scratchings.
