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June 15, 2006
Masitas de Puerco- Cuban twice cooked pork
(Photo: Mary)
I love pork. There, I said it. Of course, if you find that shocking you probably haven't been reading very long, because we've all cooked quite a bit of pork around here over the last year or so.
One of my favorites is Masitas de Puerco because it combines multiple cooking techniques- a slow braise that renders fat and tenderizes the cut, and frying, which results in a crispy bit of pork with a moist, succulent center. As with any good braised dish, the braising liquid is used as a finishing sauce. Serve with white rice, black beans, fried plantains and white onions.
Masitas de Puerco
There are a lot of ways to make this. If you have a pressure cooker for the first step, so much the better, but gently simmering the pork is just about as good, but it will take longer.
Ingredients:
5# of pork shoulder or butt, cubed into large chunks and seasoned well
Sauce (a basic mojo):
3C Naranja agria (Seville orange juice) or 2C orange juice and 1C lime juice is fine.
Lots of garlic, even a head isn't really too much
Kosher salt and black pepper
Procedure:
Cube your pork salt and pepper it well. Let it come up to room temperature while you get your sauce together.
Put your pork chunks into a pot and add the juice. It should cover about 2/3 of the pork, if you don't have enough sauce, add water until you do. No sweat.
Boil the pork (or cook in your pressure cooker) until tender.
In a large skillet, or in the cooking pot with the pork and liquid removed, get some peanut oil or lard hot. Working in small batches, fry the chunks on each side until they're crispy, then remove to paper towels. Once all of the pork is crispy, add it back to the sauce, bring it all up to a simmer while you fry your plantains and get the rest of your meal together, then serve.
Use the leftovers (if you have them) for Cuban Sandwiches the next day. That's another story...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at June 15, 2006 9:43 AM
Filed under:
Pork
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Recipes/Techniques
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Sauces
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What did you have for dinner last night?
Comments
Hi, My name is Chilebrown and I love Pork!
Carnita's with a citrus twist Yeah!!!
Posted by: Paul Brown at June 15, 2006 9:47 PM
That's it exactly, Chile. Maybe we should start a cyber-branch of Pork Anonymous!
Posted by: the pragmatic chef™ at June 16, 2006 6:24 AM
I want to put together a barbecue pulled pork sandwich with sliced smoke sausage AND bacon. Put it next to a couple kosher dill pickles and nice cold beer.
Posted by: Chris at June 16, 2006 5:19 PM
Mmmmm, porky heaven...
Posted by: the pragmatic chef™ at June 17, 2006 6:03 AM
I just made that sandwich and posted it over at my site. It's got cheddar cheese, bacon, pork roasted with survival spice, homemade BBQ sauce, smoked sausage, and red onion. Deeee-lish!
Posted by: Chris at June 17, 2006 6:07 PM