Lacón con Grelos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Nonreactive soaking container, at least 6 litres
• •Heavy stockpot with lid, about 10 litres
• •Large colander
• •Skimming spoon
• •Carving knife and sturdy board

Instructions

1. 1

   Desalt the lacón

   Put the lacón in a nonreactive container and cover it completely with 4 litres of cold water. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, changing the water after 8 hours and again after 16 hours. Keep the meat submerged throughout. Drain it, rinse under cold water, and pat away any loose salt before cooking.

   If the cure is unfamiliar, cut off a small shaving after 24 hours and simmer it in fresh water for 10 minutes before tasting. If it is still fiercely salty, soak the lacón for another 8 to 12 hours in fresh cold water. Do not taste the uncooked pork.
2. 2

   Begin in cold water

   Set the drained lacón skin-side up in a 10-litre stockpot and add about 4.5 litres of fresh cold water, enough to cover it by 4 to 5cm. Bring it slowly to the edge of a boil over medium heat, which should take about 25 minutes. Skim off the grey foam, lower the heat, and hold the water at a quiet simmer with the lid slightly ajar. Cook for 1 hour 45 minutes. Do not add salt.

3. 3

   Prepare the vegetables

   While the pork cooks, wash the grelos in two or three changes of water because grit hides where the leaves meet the stalks. Discard thick, fibrous stems and any yellowed leaves, keeping the leaves, unopened flower buds, and tender upper stalks. Peel the potatoes and leave them whole; halve only those much larger than 7cm so they finish together.

4. 4

   Add potatoes and chorizo

   After the lacón has simmered for 1 hour 45 minutes, push a thin skewer into its thickest part. It should enter with some resistance but no longer feel hard. If it is still firm, give it another 15 minutes before continuing. Add the whole unpricked chorizos and the potatoes, return the broth to its quiet simmer, and cook for 15 minutes.

   Keep the chorizos whole and the simmer gentle. Pricking them or boiling hard sends their fat into the broth and leaves the links dry or split.
5. 5

   Cook the grelos

   Add the grelos by the handful, pressing each batch beneath the broth as it wilts. Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tender stalks yield to a knife and the potatoes are soft through the centre without breaking apart. The lacón should now pull easily from the bone. If the vegetables finish first, lift them out and let the pork continue until tender.

6. 6

   Rest and carve

   Lift the lacón and chorizos onto a board and rest them for 10 minutes. Keep the greens and potatoes covered with a little broth. Remove the bone from the lacón, then slice the meat across the grain into pieces about 1cm thick. Cut each chorizo into three or four generous pieces.

7. 7

   Build the platter

   Drain the grelos and potatoes well and arrange them in separate, generous groups on a large platter with the sliced lacón and chorizo. Spoon over 60ml of the cooking broth so everything carries a light gloss without swimming. Taste before reaching for salt; the lacón and chorizo have usually done enough. Serve the remaining broth separately.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for salt-cured pork foreleg or shoulder sold for boiling, not cooked deli ham. The best substitute abroad is an unsmoked cured picnic shoulder or unsmoked gammon hock. Smoked ham hock brings a strong smoke flavor that Galician lacón does not have.
• •Buy grelos in their cool-weather season, when the leaves are deep green and the budding stems snap cleanly. Open yellow flowers and stringy stalks mean the bunch has gone too far. Broccoli rabe works when grelos cannot be found, though it tastes sharper and has more stalk.
• •If using very bitter broccoli rabe, blanch it for 90 seconds in unsalted boiling water, drain, and add it for only the final 8 to 10 minutes. Young grelos go straight into the pork broth; their clean bitterness belongs there.
• •Use a semi-cured chorizo made for cooking, preferably Galician. Fresh Mexican-style chorizo dissolves into the broth, while a hard slicing chorizo stays leathery. Neither behaves properly in this pot.
• •Do not season the cooking water at the beginning. Even well-soaked lacón releases salt as it simmers, and the broth becomes more concentrated. Taste only at the table and add salt then if it truly needs it.
• •Strain and save the broth. It makes a fine first course with small pasta, rice, or bread, and it can replace water in a pot of beans. Chill it first if you want to lift off some of the firm pork fat.
• •A young Mencía from Ribeira Sacra has enough freshness for the rich pork, while a dry Ribeiro white suits the bitterness of the grelos. Water at the family table is also entirely respectable.

Advance Preparation

• •Begin soaking the lacón at least 24 hours before cooking. Change the cold water every 8 hours and allow another 8 to 12 hours if a cooked test shaving remains aggressively salty.
• •The grelos can be trimmed and washed one day ahead. Drain them well, wrap loosely in a clean damp cloth, and refrigerate so the leaves do not wilt.
• •The lacón and its broth may be cooked one day ahead. Remove the meat, cool it and the strained broth promptly in separate shallow containers, and refrigerate within 2 hours. Return both to a full simmer before adding the chorizo, potatoes, and grelos.
• •Leftovers keep for up to 3 days refrigerated. Store the meat and vegetables with a little broth, then reheat gently so the lacón stays moist and the potatoes remain whole.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 445g)