Roast Pork Gives Holiday Latin Flavor

By JEFF HOUCK jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: Dec 14, 2005

Buena preparations. Christmas Eve, when Noche Buena is observed, is a huge night of food and festivities for Cubans, and he wants everything to be perfect.

But Hurricane Wilma put a damper on his plans. Instead of getting ready to slice through mojito-flavored roast pork at his home in the Miami suburb of Kendall, he has spent a large portion of his time in the past month cutting through Australian pines toppled by the storm's winds. Living without electricity for two weeks didn't help, either.

Most years, he usually takes a head count of invited guests, then multiplies that number by 2 pounds of pork per person. Running behind at the end of November, he did away with invitations and made what he called a "lechonero executive decision" to cook a 150-pound monster of a pig.

"Noche Buena means 'beautiful night,' " he says. "To Cubans, the Christmas Eve celebration is, by far, the biggest and best party of the year."

Prieto has been so excited, he has chronicled the preparations on his blog, Babalú ( www.babalublog.com).

"Oh, yes," he wrote. "I can smell the mojo already."

Ah, yes, the mojo. Prieto's marinade includes lots of naranja agria (sour oranges) as its base. Then come a few limes, healthy amounts of garlic and vino seco (cooking wine), diced yellow onions, cumin, a bit of oregano, crushed cilantro and, of course, sal y pimienta (salt and pepper).

He will make about six gallons of it for a pig that size. But don't bother asking about measurements.

"I've done it so many times I play it by nose," he says by phone from Miami. "I smell and think, 'It needs more of this or more of that.' "

But it doesn't end there.

His menu also will include a rice-and-bean dish (Prieto uses large brown beans for his recipe). Then there is casabe, a thick tortilla made with dried cassava, eaten by people from the Oriente region in eastern Cuba. He finishes with a large tray of turones for desserts.

Steve, an Anglo friend, probably will bring a dish as well.

"Steve made a coconut flan last year that was the hit of the party," he says, laughing.

Then there's all the nonfood preparations. New paint for the house, poinsettias for the garden and Christmas lights. With 50 guests expected, he sets up tents in case of rain.

"And then the wife might say, 'This bathroom looks so last year,' " he says.

It's been this way since he was 18.

"Once you get old enough, the adults pass the torch and say, 'It's time for you to cook the pig.' "

Not everyone has the ability to cook a pig in the ground, though. Sometimes it's easier to just order out.

For those people, Danny Hernandez is happy to serve. His family - starting with his mother and father, Sinarah and Raymond - has operated Pipo's Cafe restaurants in Tampa since 1979.

"I think Latinos' lives revolve around food," he says. "Ask any Latino housewife what the most popular room in the house is, and she'll say the kitchen."

Last year, Hernandez sold the Pipo's on Davis Islands and took time off. In October, he reopened in West Tampa on North Armenia Avenue in the former Mauricio Faedo's Bakery. Hernandez's brother, Raymond Jr., operates Pipo's restaurants on Northdale Boulevard and Waters Avenue.

Pipo's caters all the components of the meal - from pork shanks to salad, yucca, and black beans and rice. A gigantic oven with six rotating levels will roast about 20,000 pounds of pernil (the hind quarters of the pig) for the holiday, Hernandez says.

He enjoys tostones, which are green plantains that have a salty flavor.

"I like the texture," he says. "I slice them thick and cut them down middle, throw them in the fryer, mash them down when almost cooked and then refry them again. A little garlic, olive oil and salt with a little lemon. It's awesome."

Hernandez is asking customers to pick up their Noche Buena orders by 2 p.m. Dec. 24 so he and his staff can enjoy the night's festivities.

"The holidays are when the food shines," he says.

"It's an incredibly festive night full of food. We're blessed to have all of the family around."

ROAST PORK
1 (8-pound) fresh ham (pork leg)

1 head garlic, broken into cloves, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon bay leaf powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup fresh sour orange juice (Seville) or lime juice

1/4 cup dry sherry

2 large onions, thinly sliced

Preparation time: 2 hours 15 minutes

The day before you plan to serve this dish, trim the excess fat off the pork leg; make shallow slits all over the pork using the tip of a knife. Mash the garlic, salt, oregano, cumin, pepper, bay leaf and olive oil to a paste in a mortar; rub this mixture all over the roast, forcing it into the slits.

Combine the sour orange juice, sherry and onions in a small bowl.

Place the roast in a large, heavy plastic bag; add the sour orange juice mixture, making sure that the whole roast gets covered. Refrigerate and marinate the roast in the bag overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the roast and pat dry, reserving the marinade. Place it in a lightly oiled, nonreactive, heavy roasting pan and cook the roast for 1 hour, turning once or twice to brown it on all sides.

Reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Pour the marinade and onions over the pork; tent the pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil (tear off a piece that is 1 1/2 times the width of your pan; fold it in half and crease the top; open it up, and place over the pan like a tent, tightly crimping edges to seal). Continue roasting the pork, basting from time to time with the pan juices, until almost cooked, about 1 hour. Add a little water or sherry if the pan dries out.

Uncover the roast and continue cooking until the internal temperature reads at least 150 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 30 minutes more. Let the roast stand for 10 minutes before carving.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Note: This is traditionally served with black bean soup and white rice, and fried sweet plantains.

Source: "Miami Spice" by Steve Raichlen

Sent by Sr.Cohiba