Sotavento Crackling Pork Loin (Asado de Lomo de Cuerito)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy roasting pan
• •Wire rack for drying the pork overnight
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Dry the cuerito

   Pat the pork completely dry. Score the skin in shallow parallel cuts, about 1/2 inch apart, cutting through the skin but not deep into the meat. Rub the skin with 1 tablespoon salt mixed with the baking powder. Rub the meat side with another 1 teaspoon salt. Set the pork skin side up on a rack, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight. This is how the cuerito dries enough to blister. Wet skin becomes rubber. Dry skin crackles.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho one at a time for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin puffs and the color darkens. Toast the chipotle seco briefly, turning it so it does not burn. Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and soak 20 minutes. Hot water softens the flesh. Boiling water pulls bitterness from the skin.

   Chile ancho gives raisin sweetness and body. Chipotle seco gives smoke. Do not replace them with chile powder from a jar. That jar has already lost the oils you need.
3. 3

   Char the aromatics

   On the same comal, roast the jitomates de bola, onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomato skins blister, the onion edges char, and the garlic softens inside its peel. Peel the garlic. Toast the cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and oregano for a few seconds until fragrant. Watch the clove. It turns bitter fast.

4. 4

   Blend the adobo

   Drain the chiles and put them in the blender with the roasted jitomate, onion, peeled garlic, toasted spices, hoja santa, vinegar, achiote paste, and 1/2 cup pork broth. Blend until completely smooth. If the blender struggles, add a little more broth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Veracruz adobo should be smooth enough to coat the pork without leaving chile skins on the tongue.

5. 5

   Fry the adobo

   Melt the manteca in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the strained adobo carefully. It will sputter. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the color deepens to brick red and the fat starts to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Raw blended chile is not a sauce yet. Frying makes it one.

6. 6

   Season the pork

   Take the pork from the refrigerator 45 minutes before roasting. Keep the skin dry. Rub the fried adobo over the meat side and the cut sides only, not over the skin. If adobo touches the skin, it will burn before the cuerito blisters. Let the pork sit while the oven heats to 450F.

7. 7

   Start hot

   Line a roasting pan or deep cazuela with softened banana leaves. Set the pork skin side up on the leaves. Add the remaining 1/2 cup broth, olives, capers, and bay leaves around the pork, not on top. Roast at 450F for 25 minutes, until the skin begins to bubble and tighten. The first heat wakes up the fat under the skin.

8. 8

   Roast low

   Lower the oven to 325F. Continue roasting 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes, basting only the meat and pan juices, never the skin. Roast until the center reaches 140F. The carryover heat will finish it. Pork loin is lean under that beautiful cuerito, so do not cook it into dryness just because you got nervous.

9. 9

   Finish the crackling

   If the skin needs more blistering, raise the oven to 475F for 8 to 12 minutes or use the broiler for 2 to 4 minutes, watching without walking away. The skin should be golden, bubbled, and crisp under a knife tap. Move the pork to a board and rest 20 minutes. Resting keeps the juices in the meat and lets the cuerito firm.

10. 10

    Serve sliced

    Skim excess fat from the pan only if the sauce looks greasy, but leave some. That fat carries the chile. Slice the pork across the grain, making sure each piece gets meat, fat, and cuerito. Spoon the olive-caper adobo around the slices. Serve with frijoles negros cooked with epazote, warm corn tortillas, and lime halves. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for skin-on pork loin with the fat cap still attached. Many supermarkets remove the skin because they don't understand what you are making. Go to a real butcher or a Mexican market and explain that you need cuerito for roasting.
• •Hoja santa is called acuyo in Veracruz. If you cannot find it, look in Mexican or Central American markets near the fresh herbs. Leaving it out is a compromise, not an upgrade. Do not replace it with basil.
• •The olives and capers belong here. Veracruz is a port state. Its cooking carries Spanish pantry ingredients alongside chiles, corn, beans, and hoja santa. That mix is not confusion. It is the region.
• •Serve black beans, not pinto. Frijoles negros with epazote are the Sotavento table. Pinto beans belong more naturally to the north. This is a 32-state cuisine.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork must be salted and dried uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. This is not decorative technique. It is what gives the cuerito its crackle.
• •The adobo can be made two days ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm it gently before rubbing it on the pork so the lard loosens.
• •Frijoles negros can be cooked one day ahead with epazote, onion, and garlic. They taste better the next day, which is why Veracruz cooks make enough for leftovers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)