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garlic pork

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Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Garlic Pork.

4 Comments on The Ultimate Garlic Pork.

Yea ULTIMATE may be a bit bold, but if you’ve had time to go though the series of recipes I title as being “ultimate”, you’ll understand. While this is a “Christmas or holiday” dish in the Caribbean (wherever there’s a Portuguese influence), there’s no reason why you cannot rock this for your family on the regular. All you need is a little patience for the pork to marinate and take on the wonderful seasoned garlic flavor.

You’ll Need..

2 scallions
2 head of garlic (20-24 cloves)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
5-8 bird’s eye peppers (any pepper you have or like using)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
4-6 pimento peppers (seasoning peppers)
10-12 sprigs thyme
bacon fat (or any type of oil or fat you would like to use).
3 1/2 – 5 lbs pork
Juice of a lemon to wash the pork
white vinegar (2-3 cups)

Wash and drain the herbs, peppers and garlic.

Rough chop the scallions, peppers, garlic and parsley. Then put the the chopped stuff along with the salt, sugar and pulse in your food processor or blender. You will need to scrape down the side… nice chunky consistency. Should you not have a machine, give everything a fine chop with your knife.

Cut the pork (something with a marble – fat) into strips. (cheap cut of pork) Wash with cool water and lemon juice (drain)

In a glass container, toss in a tablespoon of the puree, then 2 sprigs the thyme, then pork.. repeat until it’s all in the jar in layers. We use a glass container so the acid and pungent garlic flavor will not make your fridge smelly. If your glass jar got a metal lid, place a bit of plastic wrap on the underside of the lid, so the vinegar mixture doesn’t cause it to rust.

Top with vinegar, stir and seal. Make sure it’s covered in the vinegar and into the fridge for at least 5 days.

After 5 days! I then decided to add a bit more flavor.. I browned 1/2 lb of bacon in a dry pan and saved the fat. Bacon was for breakfast. Use smoked bacon for best flavors… this one was apple-wood smoked.

Remove the marinated pork out of the fridge and drain. Give it a quick shake and cut into bite size pieces.

Yes, it’s ok to have some of the marinade still on the pieces of pork. You will need to pat the pieces of pork dry with paper towels before frying or you’ll risk having to deal with splattering fat.

I like cutting into pieces before frying as I find I get more crispy edges and a juicy center. You can fry the pork in the original long strips and cut into bite size pieces later should you choose.

Use a pot with a high side, so the splatter will not burn you or get your stove messy. Heat the bacon fat on a medium heat and fry until golden. Flip so all the sides will brown evenly. About 10-12 minutes in total.

Drian on paper towels.

As mentioned above, this is usually served with Plait Bread on Christmas morning in places like Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. However I make sandwiches all year with this as I refuse to be bound by seasons.

Meat & Poultry

Enticing Garlic Pork At Christmas.

42 Comments on Enticing Garlic Pork At Christmas.

While it’s common in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago to see garlic pork served on Christmas morning and during the holiday season, that was not the case in our home. Pork dishes did make it to the table, but it was stewed, baked in the oven, grilled and even fried, but no garlic pork as far as I recall. On the islands food plays a huge part of the Christmas celebrations and as a kid I remember getting excited with the scent of cake and ham baking in the oven and the many other delicacies being prepared in the kitchen, than I would to open gifts on Christmas morning. Christmas memories for me surround scents (food, new curtains, paint and the new sheets on the bed that had a hint of moth balls), sounds (parang, people singing and the odd intoxicated person rambling on) and joyous emotions (the smiles, inviting people to your home and everyone in an overall good mood).

Garlic pork is one of those dishes where the influence came from people who arrived from other countries and settled in the Caribbean. This is why it’s mainly popular in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, since this is where most of the Portuguese settlers called home. Looking at the preparation I can only assume that this was done out of necessity, as there were no readily available refrigerators back then, to keep the meat for long periods of time.

Here’s my take on this classic Christmas dish called garlic pork.

You’ll Need…

4 lbs pork
2 cups vinegar (everyday white vinegar)
1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (any hot pepper you like)
1/2 cup shado beni (optional)
2 tablespoon salt
20 cloves garlic
oil for frying (vegetable or any oil which can handle high heat)

* You’ll need some patience as this must marinate for a few days at least.

Notes. Shado beni may not be traditional to this dish, but it’s what make’s it uniquely Trinbagonian so you know I had to add it. Thyme works great with this as well as oregano, but I didn’t have any fresh herbs so I couldn’t be bothered. If using thyme and/or oregano, I’ll recommend using about 1-2 tablespoon chopped. After marinating, I’ve seen some people boil the pork, then fry.. not my thing, so I just fried. You may also see some recipes call for cider vinegar.. since this will be marinating in a ton of garlic, I really don’t see the use for anything but basic vinegar.

It’s now time to trim the pork. In my case I purchased a leg portion with the middle bone… so all I did was cut away into 1 inch cubes. You’ll notice that I did leave back a bit of the fat.. that’s just my preference. Try to use  a cheap piece of pork and not something expensive like a tenderloin (unless you have the coins). For those of you worried about the fat, a regular loin would be a great option for this.

I then rinsed the pieces of cut pork with a little vinegar and water and drained. Then I chopped the shando beni, garlic and pepper very fine. Again, this is just my way of doing things, but you can certainly put everything except the pork into a food processor or blender and make a paste instead.

In a bowl I placed the vinegar, salt, shando beni, pepper and garlic and gave it a good whisk.

Up next is to marinate this (I did say you’ll need some patience). Traditionally this is marinated in an earthen jar or anything that’s non reactive, but in my case I’m using a freezer strength zip lock bag (which I will double up on in case of any leaks). First I placed the washed and drained pieces of pork, then I poured the seasoning mixture in and made sure every piece got coated. I also try to remove all the air I can, so the only thing the meat gets into contact with during the marinating process is the seasoning/vinegar.

 After doubling up on the bags, I placed it in the fridge and allowed it to marinate for 4-5 days. During which time I’ll massage it a couple times at least, to move the pieces of meat and seasoning around a bit. You will notice a couple things…. if your bag/s is not sealed good, you will have a very strong garlicky scent when you open your fridge (not good) and the pieces of meat will go from being pink to a very non attractive pale white. That is normal. The vinegar is breaking down the meat and curing it at the same time. BTW, I’ve been told that traditionally this was left in a cool dark corner of the kitchen/house and not in the fridge as I did.

After 5 days I removed it from the fridge and drained it using a colander. I then removed most of the big pieces of garlic and discarded them. Now try to get as much liquid/moisture away from the pork. Squeeze, then place on paper towels, as we all know what will happen when liquid hits heated oil.

 In a heavy saucepan, heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) on a med/high setting. Ensuring you’ve dried up most of the liquid the pork was marinating in, start adding a few pieces to the pan. Try not to overcrowd the pan or if they touch they can form steam and you’ll get boiled pork rather than fried.You may have to cook the pieces for about 7-10 minutes or so and flip them around so you get that golden brown color on all sides. You’ll obviously have to do these in batches. I had a paper towel lined plate waiting to soak up all the excess oil when they were done cooking.

During each batch you may be required to add a bit more oil to the pan to avoid the pieces of meat sticking. While this fry you may notice that (if you have pieces of fat as I did) it will ‘burst’ and splatter, so use a splatter screen if you have one. How long and how brown/crisp you want your garlic pork pieces is entirely up to you. If I was making this for my dad I know he’d want it crispy, so I’d have to keep it cooking for a bit over the 10 minutes I mentioned above.

I do hope you guys give this garlic pork a test drive this holiday season and if you’re stuck in the bitter cold of Northern climates, pretend for a second that you’re enjoying a tropical Christmas.

Before you go I invite you to leave me your comments below.. even if it just to say hello. It’s always appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on facebook and do check out the cooking videos.

Meat & Poultry

Smells like Christmas in my house, though it’s September.

29 Comments on Smells like Christmas in my house, though it’s September.

trini bake porkIt’s funny how certain scents, music and even tv shows takes you back to a different time and place. Last night as I put together this recipe Tehya came up to me and asked “dad that smells good… what are you making?”. My response was “yea it’s smells like Christmas”. Like “Christmas”? I explained to her that I was making bake pork (roast pork in the oven) and I remembered that smell when her grandmother would make the traditional bake pork leg Christmas eve. To this day I can’t watch repeats of “The Little House On The Prairie or Waltons”, as it brings back a rush of memories. I still remember how we would all sit as a family to watch these shows as my mom would do the weekly ironing of our school uniforms and I miss the fact that we’ve all grown up and gone our separate ways.

Though Tehya didn’t remain wake to sample this amazing roasted pork, I’m sure when she comes home from school today she’ll be digging in. The ONLY approval I need when I cook is seeing our girls enjoy the final product. They are my judge and jury!

So what does Christmas smell like? Let’s get cooking so you’ll experience part of my childhood.

You’ll need…

5 lb pork leg (with bone)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon thyme (fresh)
1 sprig of Oregano
1 spring onion with bulb
3 cloves garlic
1 lime or lemon.
1/4 habanero pepper sliced very thin (any hot pepper of your choice)

* When you purchase the piece of pork leg do get the one with the bone and with the skin/fat. Don’t worry, you can remove the fat/skin when it’s done, but we need this to help add flavour and to prevent the meat from drying off while we slow cook it. A pork loin will not give us the desired final product we’re hoping to achieve.

Start off by putting the piece of pork in a large bowl, then squeeze the juice of a lime or lemon over it and add water to wash. Drain and pat dry with a paper towel and set aside.

trinidad bake pork recipe

* if you don’t have the spring onion with the onion bulb part 9I just so happened to have some in my garden) use scallions and a normal cooking onion as replacement.

The next step is to get the seasoning ready to coat and marinate the piece of pork. Chop as fine as you can, the onion, thyme and oregano (use shado beni or cilantro if you don’t have fresh oregano) and minced the garlic. In a small bowl place all the chopped ingredients and add the salt, black pepper and olive oil. Give it a good stir, then paste it all ove the pork leg. Make some small stab cuts into the pork leg (meat side – not the fat) and work some of the seasoning into those cuts. I also try to pull the skin back a bit and put some of the herb mixture under it. If you’re wondering why we used oil in the mixture, it’s to help combine everything and to allow it to attach to the meat.

Allow this to marinate for about 1 hr.

Tip: To get the flavour but not the heat from the habnaero, use the bottom part of the pepper and don’t use any of the seeds.

seasoning for oven roasted pork

how to season pork for roating

caribbean roast pork

TIP : I seasoned the pork in the roasting pan I’ll be using so I don’t have to worry about transferring anything when it’s time to cook and any seasoning that falls off the piece of meat will fall to the bottom of the pan and perfume the dish even further as it roast.

Preheat your oven to 375 then place the roasting pan (covered) on the middle rack and allow to cook for about 2 hrs at this temperature. TIP: Place the pork with the fat/skin side up, as mentioned before we’ll be using the fat to keep the meat moist and to add some extra flavour

baked pork recipe

After 2 hrs, I flip the pork over the pork to allow the meat side to get some of the direct heat and get  the browned colour we’ll looking for. At this point I also remove the cover from the pan and allow it to cook for another hour. After the first 30 minutes of the final hour of cooking I flip back the meat with the skin side up and allow that side to get some colour as well. You will notice that the skin will shrink and not look how it did when we first started. A good way to know when the roast is done it to use push on the bone to see if it moves freely.

bake pork recipe

trini christmas bake pork

trini roast pork

Allow to cool a bit before slicing and trimming out the fat and skin. My favourite way to enjoy this roasted pork is on a sandwich or on it’s own. I create a simple dipping sauce for it with equal parts ketchup and soy sauce, to which I add some of my homemade hotsauce. Whisk together with a few drops of fresh lime juice and enjoy.

BTW you’ll notice that the herbs we used in seasoning will become dark and give the impression that it’s burnt… that’s just the natural sugars caramelizing. Scoop some of that onto your sandwich as well.. it’s lovey!

Final TIP. You will now have a very dirty roasting pan which can be a bit of a task to clean. I usually get a sheet of fabric softner (static guard) and place it in the pan, fill with water and allow it to soak overnight. Not sure what happens, but all that baked-on grime releases from the pan and cleans up with soap and water.