Chicharrones de Cádiz: tender, light, and tasty (not crunchy "pork rinds")

We had this traditional tapa in Cádiz at Arte Puro (de Taberna Casa Manteca) and I was immediately taken with it: tender slices of pork belly seasoned with spices including pimentón, garnished with olive oil, lime, and salt, and served barely cool. They were surprising refreshing, great on a hot day. 

Sliced thinly, dressed with olive oil, coarse salt, lime

We found some in Barcelona at El Corte Inglés "Gourmet Club", but they were a pale imitation: a bit dry, not terribly flavorful -- I wouldn't have been so interested if these were the only ones I'd tasted. 

I had to figure out how to make them at home! Feel free to skip to the Approach or the Recipe, or follow along.

In Cadíz: moist and delicious!

Dull from El Corte Inglés, oddly with coriander, cumin, vinegar

Research

There are so many variations, which just points to the fact that this is a very old and common dish, and everyone makes it their own way.

General

Chicharrones de Cádiz: cómo son y dónde comerlos mentions two places we went, including the place we ate these, but doesn't provide a recipe or technique. These are pieces of pork belly [panceta], a "marbled" area of ​​the pork that alternates layers of meat with fat. This gives the pieces a special succulence. Butchers call them "pear belly" because of their shape, which is reminiscent of the fruit.

Chicharrones de Cádiz talks about the prep in general. Iberian pork belly has a better mix of fat and a more intense flavor than regular pork belly. They use white lard (manteca) for cooking, seasoned with garlic, oregano, paprika, salt, and other optional seasonings. Substituting Olive Oil for the Lard may result in a different result in terms of texture and flavor, but it is still a valid option for those who prefer a less traditional cooking method. Another modern adaptation of the recipe involves adding lemon and peppers to the pork rinds during preparation, adding a citrusy and slightly spicy touch that further enhances their flavor.

El País has a video La tapa más especial de Cádiz which starts at the Casa de Manteca, then goes to the producer who says the panceta is trimmed then cooked in manteca for 90 minutes on medium heat, and seasoned with oregano, garlic, salt, garlic, bay laurel, pimentón.

Cooked in Manteca, Sometimes Boiled First

Chicharrones loncheados de Cádiz cooks the panceta an hour in manteca seasoned with salt, garlic, oregano, and pimentón.

Chicharrones especiales o chicharrones de Cádiz is similar to the previous, using pear-shaped ("pera") panceta. They do not use pimentón, and cook in "pella de cerdo" (pork rind) or white lard.

Receta de Chicharrones de Cádiz caseros adds "laurel" (bay leaves) and black pepper, and starts cooking in water about 30 minutes until it evaporates, then cooks the panceta in its own fat with the seasonings for another hour, then further cooks it in reduced wine and seasonings. This one sounds interesting, but unnecessarily complex.

Two videos I've seen saute garlic in oil then brown the panceta on both sides, then add white wine, bay, salt, then cover with water and simmer 30 minutes. This one then fries in manteca to brown, but uses a huge amount of manteca to do it; oddly, there's no pimentón.  Another cooks only in seasoned manteca for 90 minutes, but it looks a bit more dry and shreddy than I'd like. 

Dry- or Paste-Seasoned then Baked

Receta de chicharrón de Cádiz casero coats the panceta with a paste of garlic, oregano, pimentón, and salt with a bit of olive oil, then bakes at 200C for up to an hour, basting in the fat it releases. This certainly saves on having a liter of manteca.

This "short" looks super-simple: a 3-hour marinade in oil and spices then bake at 200C until crunchy. It seems similar to the previous one.

This video, in English, is from an NYC chef does a dry cure similar to bacon (with some sugar, oddly) for 1-2 days, then adds some pimentón and roasts at 250F/120C for 90 minutes; it looks pretty decent.

Dry Rub then Sous Vide

Anova's Chicharrones de Cádiz uses sous vide, which allows us to reduce the lard to just enough for flavoring. He cooks at 60C for 30 hours (!) with the lard and spices, then sears to brown before slicing. The article's in English and the author is originally from Madrid, so I'm giving some him credit for authenticity.

Approach

I did a flavor trial with a spice mix of Salt, minced Garlic, Oregano, Pimentón, and a couple fresh Bay leaves coating a pork tenderloin. I cooked it sous vide for an hour at 58C, then finished on the BBQ. The flavor was good, if a bit timid; the Pimentón was welcome and I was really fond of the Bay.

Boiling in water is about the last thing I'd want to do with meat -- too much flavor loss, no flavor gain; if the goal is to cook through, just do it in tasty Manteca. It seems to me that flavoring a pot of Manteca with seasonings isn't going to impart much flavor to the meat, even if it's the most traditional method. A dry rub/cure or paste, followed by baking, seems like it would retain all the flavor and give a bit of crunch, but it obviates the Manteca flavoring. Searing in Manteca after cooking might burn any spice coating, so watch out for that.

The Anova Sous Vide recipe seems a good compromise: the dry rub is like the baked recipes above, but adding chunks of Manteca for traditional flavor; the final sear in Manteca should give it an appealing crust, hopefully without burning any spices. I could also try blooming the spices in hot Manteca then painting that onto the Panceta before cooking sous vide, it's one extra small step. 

Recipe

I got a 750 g piece of Iberian Panceta from Xarcuteria Neus in our Mercat de Sant Antoni and had them remove the skin; it was 14€/Kg. Irene has tubs of Manteca, because she's Irene. I'm cutting the Anova sous vide recipe in half here, but keeping his original quantity of Bay and Pimentón because I love those flavors.

750 g       Iberian Panceta, skin removed

0.7 g       Oregano, dried (1 Tbs)

 10 g       Salt (2 tsp)

5.6 g       Pimentón Dulce (1 Tbs)

  3 cloves  Garlic, minced

  4 leaves  Bay, fresh 

 45 g       White Manteca, cut in chunks

 ?? g       White Manteca, for searing, if needed

            Lemon juice, fresh, for garnish

            Coarse Salt, for garnish

            Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for garnish

Heat a sous vide water bath to 60C.

Combine the Oregano, Salt, Pimentón.

Mix in the minced Garlic and smear into a dry paste.

Spread a large sheet of plastic film and lay the Panceta on top.

Rub spices into both sides of the Panceta as evenly as possible; it's difficult because this isn't quite a dry rub nor a smooth spreadable paste.

Lay on the Bay leaves and Manteca chunks, again on both sides.

(Maybe these, except for the Manteca, could all be blitzed in a spice grinder?)

Wrap the plastic film tightly around the Panceta.

Seal in a sous vide bag and cook 30 (!) hours at 60C.

While still warm, remove from bag and dry with paper towel.

Save the tasty liquid and fat from the bag, we used it to serve black-eyed peas as a side dish.

Score the fat to allow rendering than sear slowly in skillet, fat-side down, with a little more Manteca until appealingly golden; flip and sear the meaty side just a little, don't overcook it. We probably didn't need the Manteca here since the fat rendered quite easily. 

Chill well, then slice as thinly; I was able to get about 2mm slices but a meat slicer would give even more tender 1mm slices.

Plate and garnish with coarse Salt, a squeeze of Lemon, and some good Olive Oil. 

I used Lime, but Lemon would be more harmonious.

Serve with mini bread sticks, called "picos" in Spanish or "barretes de pa" in Catalan.

Results

I got better at cutting thinner slices, and it was more appealing -- more refreshing. The spice rub was not nearly as pronounced as I was expecting, and perhaps hoping. But we returned to it again and again, especially as a lunch or Hora de Vermut treat.

Next Time

I'd probably keep the same spicing for now. Maybe use dried/granulated garlic to make the rub easier to apply. Definitely score the fat side -- diagonally or perpendicular to how it's going to be sliced -- to allow the spice rub to penetrate more. 

2025-08-03 Scored, with Powdered Dry Rub

I got another cut from Carnisseria Carmen, also el Mercat de Sant Antoni; it started at 640 g, and after removing the skin, was 540 g. I tried to maximize the flavor by diagonally scoring the fatty side (just to the meat) and also scoring the meat side slightly, perpendicular to how it will be cut when serving. I whizzed all the ingredients so I had a dry rub, and pressed them into the flesh after painting it with liquid Manteca.

540 g       Panceta Iberica (trimmed weight)

 40 g       Manteca, melted

  4 leaves  Bay, fresh

 10 g       Salt

 10 g       Garlic granules (coarse powder)

  6 g       Pimenton Dulce

  1 g       Oregano, dried

Score the fat side of the Panceta in a diagonal pattern, just through the fat to the meat;

barely score the meat side perpendicularly to the way it will be sliced.

Lay the Panceta on a large sheet of plastic film to contain everything.

Melt the Manteca and paint it on both sides of the Panceta, it will firm up as it hits the cool meat.

Grind the Bay and dry spices in a spice grinder, and dust both sides, pressing into the Manteca and the scores.

Wrap tightly in the plastic film and chill well so the fat firms up.

Seal in a sous vide bag.

Proceed as above: cook sous vide 30h @ 60c, sear briefly, chill, slice, and serve.

Fabada Asturiana rehearsal

We watched a video of Jose Andres with chefs  preparing a Fabada Asturiana and wanted to give this iconic dish a try. At the market, we looked for the (domain-protected) Asturian fabes de la Granja, but the closest we could find were Catalan Mongetes Ganxet. We also found a butcher with a bundle of the meats appropriate for a fabada.  Today's cold, and I didn't think to soak the beans last night, so today I'll treat this as a rehearsal for when I have the correct beans and time to soak them. 

Despite the compromised time and beans, this came out quite well: rich, intense, but not thick and sticky. The beans -- the star of the show -- held together and were creamy with a delicate skin. The sausages were intense. A simple recipe with quality ingredients treated with respect.

Fabada, pan catalana, Basque cider

The Cookful suggests cooking dried beans for about 25 minutes in an Instantpot, but I wanted to be careful with the texture -- I don't want the beans to explode. Here, I'm doing a high-heat fast soak from The Spruce Eats fabada recipe. Ingredients and techniques come from there, plus Saveur, Spanish Sabores, and the Guardian. The recipes, scaled for for 2 people, range from 140 to 300g dried beans, so I'll use 200g. Quantities of the ingredients aren't critical. 

Simple: beans, onion, pimenton, garlic, saffron, oil

Serves 2 hungry shepherds or 3 sedentary adults

200 g      dried Mongetes Ganxet ("crochet beans" due to their curve)

           Olive Oil, Spanish

150 g      small Onion

  1 clove  Garlic, minced

  1 g      Pimenton Dulce

150 g      Tocino (pork belly, slab pancetta)

115 g      Spanish Chorizo (1 link)

120 g      Morcillo (1 link)

pinch      Saffron

 ~4 g      Salt

Put the Beans into a large pot, cover generously with water, bring to boil for 1 minute, then turn off and cover, and let sit for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cut the Onion into large chunks you can fish out later, then sauté in Olive Oil until soft but not browned. Add the Garlic and Pimenton and sauté a few minutes more to bloom the flavors.

Drain the beans, add back to the large pot with the Tocino, sautéed Onions, Garlic, and Pimenton; add water to cover.

Bring to boil over high heat and skim any scum. 

Reduce to medium, add Saffron and Salt; simmer covered until Beans are slightly al dente in the center; check after an hour, but it might take 90 minutes.

Do not stir as it will break the delicate beans.

Make sure the water just covers the beans, add some if needed.

Remove the Onion.

Add Chorizo and Morcilla, and continue simmering until beans are velvety and cooked through, about 15-45 minutes more; it's OK if a few beans break apart.

Remove the Sausages and Tocino, slice into thick coins.

Adjust Salt. 

Ladle stew into bowls, top with Sausages and Tocino.

Serve with crusty bread and an good quality Asturian, Basque or other Spanish cider. Ours was Basque, and not expensive.

I'd make this again, even with my unsoaked Catalan beans. The chorizo was intensely flavored -- salty, vinegar-y, full of pimenton --  definitely an ingredient rather than something you'd put on a bun. This particular morcilla (blood sausage) was not to our liking: Chris found it too coarse and scary, Irene said it was too heavy on the vinegar; next time I'd seek out a more smooth morcilla. The 1 g of Pimenton was probably not necessary, given how much the chorizo contributed.

2025-05-03 Real beans, higher percentage

At the Sants Mercat Nou, we got the proper beans from Asturias -- they're huge!

A 300 g bag soaked overnight provided 700 g beans.

I'm going to use half of these, since the 200 g dried beans from before fed "2 hungry shepherds".

The beans were still a bit al dente / chalky after 60 minutes plus 30, so next time give them 90 minuets in the first simmer to finish with a creamy texture; but it all depends on what beans you get, and how old they are, etc.

We got a 200 g package of the mixed meats from the store, and that seems a good reduction from the meat-heavy proportions above.

I blitzed the broth-cooked onions with a bit of the broth and added it back to give it some body, and avoid discarding flavor. 

This chorizo was not as pimenton-y nor vinegar-y as the previous, and the morcilla was not as coarse. 

Puerco Tonnato sous vide

We made a Vitello Tonnato, cooking the beef sous vide, and it turned out well but wasn't quite the right cut. While searching for other cuts, we found a pork tenderloin that looked like a great shape. While unconventional, it turned out well and is worth repeating. Nothing in this recipe requires precision except the sous vide temperature: it resulted in a beautiful pink texture while being cooked through.

Garnished with red bell, capers

The Pork came in a cryovac bag (wet cured) had only a little "meat diaper" in the bag, which is food-safe, so we cooked it right in its bag. The Tonnato sauce was basically a home made mayonnaise with intense flavors folded in. We used a mixture of oils from some smoked salmon and anchovies packed in oil, but you can use a mix of olive oil and lighter vegetable oil to prevent it being too heavy.

This amount seemed at first to be too much for a two person dinner, but we polished it off: we were ravenous after our 10 Km (6 mile) walk from Montjuïc Castle back to our apartment.

500 g  Pork Tenderloin, in its cryovac bag
  1    Egg Yolk, room temperature
 15 ml Lemon Juice
  5 ml Dijon Mustard
       Oil (olive and sunflower)
 20 g  Capers
  2    Anchovies, salt-packed
104 g  Tuna packed in olive oil, with its oil (2 small cans)

Cook the Pork in its bag at 58C (136F) for 2 hours; this is low enough to keep it pink, and long enough to heat through the 5cm thickness of the cylindrical meat.

Put the bagged pork in an ice bath in the fridge to drop temperature; once chilled, you can leave it like this until you're ready to prep and serve.

Remove Pork, wipe dry, wrap in film, and freeze for an hour to make it easier to slice cleanly.

Sear in a ripping hot cast iron pan filmed with some oil and salt, and hit the top with a Searzall torch if you've got one.

Remove and slice thinly.

Let return to room temperature.

Kullenschliff knife made for clean slices

Whisk Egg Yolk and Lemon Juice with a stick blender and whisk; whisk in Mustard.

While whisking, drizzle in the oil until you have a thick Mayonnaise -- don't make it too thin.

Combine Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna and its oil, and whiz with a in a mini-food processor to a mush.

Fold the zesty, salty mush into the mayonnaise.

We plated out red endives, topped with the Tonatto sauce, then added the Pork, and garnished with thinly sliced red bell peppers and caper berries. 

White wine worked fine with this

What Worked, Improvements for Next Time...

The Pork could have been more firm for even slices, but it was tender enough that it sliced cleanly with my good kullenschliff knife.

If we didn't have pre-bagged pork, I would salt it before bagging and cooking -- our unseasoned pork really benefitted from the hit of salt. 

The Tonatto sauce pooled on the plate; next time, lay out the endive base and pork, use a squirt bottle to dress the pork with the sauce, so it's more attractive and evenly applied; then garnish as you like.

My garnishes still appear a bit heavy, perhaps a finer dice would be more appealing.

Some grilled bread would go really well with this, and provide a balancing starch.

Lentejas con Chorizo (Lentils with Chorizo)

This Spanish lentil and chorizo dish is simple, warming, and hearty -- a classic. Recipes range from soupy to stewy; I lean toward a thicker consistency for dinner but don't want to overcook the lentils to the point of being mushy. For this dish, I'm taking cues from Spanish Sabores and Spain on a Fork.

I used brown lentils, but you can use black or green. In this rendition, I had a string of little chorizo balls, so I cut them into attractive hemispheres. We had some vegetable stock in the freezer which Irene simmered with some pork bones that we'd collected to give it some body. We've got rosemary, thyme, and bay growing on the terrace so we've used all three, but you can use any combination of aromatics that you like. The pickled Guindilla chilis just a little spicy, their acidity adds balance to the richness; our Catalan supermarket calls the Bixtos and they're also known as Piparras. If you can't find the Ñora or Choricero, use some Pimenton (Spanish smoked Paprika); the Ñora has a richness of tomato paste combined with the rich tobacco/leather notes of Ancho or Poblano chilis.

Total time about 1 hour; serves two:

125 g       Lentils, dried
600 ml      Stock (pork, beef, chicken, or vegetable)
    taste   Black Pepper, fresh ground
  1 stalk   Celery, whole
  1 sprig   Rosemary, whole for removal later
  1 bunch   Thyme, leave on stem for removal later
  1 whole   Bay Leaf
150 g       Chorizo, sliced into rounds
 15 ml      Olive Oil (a generous glug to prevent fat from burning)
  1 large   Onion, diced
  2 large   Carrots, large slice or dice
1/2         Red Bell Pepper, medium, large dice (72 g here)
  4 clove   Garlic, sliced thin
  1 medium  Tomato, crushed
 20 g       Ñora Pepper paste
2-4         Guindilla Chilis packed in vinegar

I'd suggest doing a mise en place -- measuring your ingredients and chopping your vegetables ahead of time -- so you don't risk overcooking the Lentils.

Rinse the Lentils and check for debris.

Add the Lentils to a pot with the Black Pepper, Celery, and whole aromatic herbs, and cover with Stock, then bring to a low simmer. These take the longest time to cook so give them a head start while you prepare the sofrito.

In a skillet, sear the Chorizo on all sides to render a little fat; continuing to sauté so the sausage cooks through.

In the skillet with the Chorizo fat, add the Oil and sauté the Onions and Carrots until the onions start to brown, then add Garlic and Pepper for a couple minutes, then the Tomatoes. Cover and cook over medium heat until reduced to a paste -- a sofrito -- about 10 minutes.

Add the sofrito and Ñora paste to the Lentil pot and simmer on low until the flavors have combined. Don't let it cook so much that the Lentils get mushy; if there's too much liquid, boost the heat but stir constantly so the lentils at the bottom don't burn. If it starts drying out, add more Stock or water and lower the heat. Taste and adjust Salt. Remove Celery and aromatic herbs.

Serve with the seared Chorizo, and top with some pickled Guindilla Chili peppers; slicing them makes it easier to eat without a knife. A hearty red wine works well with this rich dish.

Dacha's Isaan Sausage

This one sounds a bit scary to me -- uncooked meat and cooked rice left unrefrigerated for 5 days. But I've gotta try it!  We recently tried a similar recipe from the Night + Market cookbook which you can read about.

2     pound  Ground Pork
1     head   Garlic, chopped
1     cup    Rice, cooked
1 1/2 Tbs    ground Black Pepper
1     Tbs    Salt
             Sausage Casing

Mix everything together, stuff it in the Sausage Casing.
Tie the sausage every 1 1/2 - 2 inches.
Put the sausages in a closed container. 
Leave it for 3 days (I like leaving it for 5 days) in room temperature

Bake in 350F oven for 10 minutes then turn and bake for another 5 minutes.

There are other folks who are doing this, and living to talk about it:
http://www.blazinghotwok.com/2011/05/new-and-improved-isaan-sausages-now.html
http://shesimmers.com/2011/04/northeastern-thai-sour-sausage-sai-krok.html
http://ahungerartist.bobdelgrosso.com/2011/04/ferment-this-northeastern-thai-sour.html

Smoky Pork Chili

In the past two chili competitions our friends host, we've come in #2 and #1; we hope to keep our crown this year with a pork-based chili that focuses on smoke.  It uses smoked pork, smoked oil, smoked tomatoes,  smoked tomato water, and smokey chilis. 

TL;DR: we came in tied for 2nd place in this year's competition!

Smoked Tomatoes and Tomato Water

We got bulk tomatoes from the farmers market. 

To skin easily: freeze hard, remove, and soak each for a minute or two in water.

Nick the skin in an X at the bottom and peel it off; it should slip off pretty easy, but if not, let soak a minute more and try again.

While still semi-frozen, cut each in half at the equator.

Put on wire racks, cut-side down, over trays (like lasagna pans) to catch the drips as they thaw and smoke.

Cold smoke several hours.

You may be able to do this while you smoke the Pork and Oil below, if you've got lots of room.

Keep the tomatoes and water to make the chili.

Both are great for other uses, and the smokey water makes a fantastic Bloody Mary.

Pork

   1 Kg   2 Lb  Pork Shoulder, with a moderate amount of fat

   1 L    1 Qt  Olive Oil (as much as you want, it's versatile)

Cut Pork into strips that will fit into meat grinder; arrange on wire rack.

Fill a large low tray -- a lasagna tray -- with Olive Oil and add to smoker.

Cold smoke Pork and Oil; we used apple wood pellets in an 18-inch stainless perforated tube, works well.

Flip the meat periodically to expose all sides.

This smoking runs a bit over 4 hours.

Chill Pork hard before grinding.
Grind through coarse plate, about 3 mm wholes.

Sear in a little of the now Smoked Olive Oil.

The Pork threw off 43g of fat, leaving 607g meat.

Reserve the fat for sauteing later.

Beans

225  g    8    oz  Dried Black Beans (Frijoles negros, secos)
  1  L   32 fl oz  Smoked Tomato Water

Cook beans in Tomato Water, covered, very low, until nearly tender, add water if needed; may take 1-4 hours.

Drain, reserve smokey bean liquid.

Makes 3 C cooked beans.

Chili Sauce Base

Build a base using Irene's Vegan Chili, sans chick peas, and substituting as many smoked ingredients as we can find -- smoked chipotles, smoked oil, smoked tomatoes, ... 

17 g   7 whole  Chipotle chilis, dried

15 g   3 whole  Sweet dried chilis (Costeño, New Mexico, Choricero)

52 g   3 whole  Fruity dried chilis (Ancho, Mulatto, Negro, Pasilla)

 1 L   1 quart  Smoked Tomato Water and smokbean-cooking liquid

Remove stems and seeds from Chilis.

Microwave chilis between two plates in 10 second increments until pliable and toasty smelling, about 30 seconds total.

Add Chilis to Smoked Tomato Water, cover, and microwave until it simmers, about 5 minutes.

Transfer to blender and blend until smooth -- be careful, the hot liquid can explode, so start with slow pulses and cover loosely with a paper towel.

Makes 4 Cups.

Assembly

 230g    1 large  Onion, diced

  ? g    3 clove  Garlic, minced

 10 g  1.5 Tbs    Cumin seed, toasted, ground

3.5 g             Fresh Oregano, or 2 tsp Dried, minced

 10 g    ?        Pimenton

400 g   14 oz     Tomatoes, preferably smoked, fine chopped

  ? g    3 whole  Chipotle chilis from a can, chopped

  ? g    1 Tbs    Chipotle can sauce

 95 g             Smoked dried Chipotle peppers, rehydrated

 20 g             Poblano Chilis from the garden, seeded, chopped

  ? g    1 tsp    Marmite or Vegemite (for Umami)

  ? g    1 Tbs    Soy Sauce (for Umami)

Saute Onions in rendered pork fat, then add Garlic, Cumin, Oregano; drain, reserving fat.

Add part of the drained fat to a large pot for final assembly, and fry chopped tomatoes in the fat. 

Add cooked Onion mixture and cooked Pork.

Add Pimenton, chopped Chipotles and their sauce (this was a 4 ounce jar's worth)

Add 2 C of the 4 C blended Chili sauce, since we had less meat than expected.

Let cook a bit to combine, then adjust salt.

Cook covered, low, until meat is tender, maybe another hour.

Add the 1 C of cooked Beans; this proportion seemed high at first but turned out fine.

Cook a bit more to finish, or let cool, refrigerate, then reheat the next day when the flavors will be married.

If the chili is too loose, or maybe has a bit too much fat, create a slurry of Masa in a little water and add it to the chili a tablespoon at of time until it's thickened as much as you want.

I like to serve this over spaghetti ("chili mac"), with grated Parmesan or Cheddar -- better, smoked Mexican cheese like Cojita -- and some diced onions or scallions. 

For the competition, use 1 C Black Beans; for home, use 3 C.

Crispy Pig Ears: 2-ways

At a heritage pig break-down demo we went to, the butchers handed out the cuts at the end: we got the pig ears -- it's not like we had to fight off the others to get them! We've had pig ears once before, at Eola in DC, cooked by adventurous chef Daniel Singhofen. I wanted something crunchy, and found two preparations, so we tried both. All the recipes I saw boiled the ears for 2-3 hours, then finished them to crisp them up.  Serious Eats had a simple finish of searing on a hot grill. Rather than boil, which I thought would leech too much flavor, I cooked them sous vide, as suggested in a Great British Chefs article I found when searching for sous vide.

They both turned out quite well, without a lot of fuss, The seared ear was like a giant Chicharrón, one of my guilty pleasures. The fried slices were like an awesome bar snack.  Both are super rich, the 8 ounce total weight was enough for two of us for dinner.  Irene made a caper and cornichon salsa, but a zingy chimichurri would go well, too.

2 Pig Ears (225 g, 8 ounces)
Kosher Salt
Lard, frozen hard
Flour
Corn Starch
Cayenne Pepper powder
Oil for Frying

Singe the Ears to burn off any hairs; ours were scrupulously clean so this wasn't really necessary.
Put the ears in a zippy bag with about 25g Salt, a splash of water, shake to distirute, and chill 6 hours.
Remoe the ears, rinse and dry.

Place each ear in its own sous vide bag, add a pat of frozen Lard, seal, and cook 24 hours at 85C/185F.
Remove the Ears, press flat and weight down, then cool overnight.

Remove the Ears.
Heat Oil for frying to 190C/375F.
Heat two cast iron pans over high heat.
Mix Flour, Cornstarch, Cayenne in a baggie.

Place one Ear on a pan, and cover with the other pan to sear both sides. 
Cook a few minutes until it starts getting bubbly and crusty, flip the ear, cover, and cook another couple minutes. 

Cut the other Ear into thin strips.
Add the strips to the Flour mixture, shake well, then remove and shake off excess dusting.

 

Boil in Oil for about 3 minutes until crunchy, drain.

Serve with an assertive acidic sauce or salsa.

Jerk Pork from Fine Cooking

 This recipe came from Fine Cooking, June/July 1994 (text at Internet Archive).

Jerk: the process

Jerking is a two-step process. First you marinate the meat for at least four hours; overnight is better. Then you slow-cook it, preferably over hardwood coals, be- cause the sweet hardwood smoke contributes half the flavor of the finished jerk. Here in Texas, I use pecan, apple, or my favorite, peach. Maple, walnut, almond, or hickory would be fine, too.

The traditional Jamaican way is to dig a pit about two feet deep and set stones or cinder blocks at each end to support the green sticks of the grill frame- work about eight inches above the coals. The fire is started and when the coals are ready, the sticks are set in place, and the meat is put on the barbecue. Banana leaves used to be placed on top to help trap the smoky heat; nowadays it’s more likely to be a sheet of galvanized zinc. The meats are “jerked,” or turned, every 15 to 20 minutes. Pork takes two to four hours and chicken 45 minutes to two hours, de- pending on the fire. The slower and longer the cooking process, the better the finished jerk.

To make jerk pork at home, I marinate the meat and refrigerate it overnight. I use a lot of jerk in pro- portion to the amount of meat, normally two to three cups of jerk rub for a 6-pound pork butt roast. I prepare the pork butt by removing the bone (you can have the butcher do this). Then I place it skin-side down on the cutting board and cut it at 11⁄2-inch intervals straight down to, but not through, the bottom layer of fat next to the skin. I rotate the roast 90° and again cut at 11⁄2-inch intervals. This makes a lot of stubby, square fingers of meat, all connected on one side by fat and skin. I rub the jerk deeply into these pieces of meat.

About an hour before I begin cooking the roast, I start a fire in my covered grill with mesquite. When the mesquite coals are ashen, I add peach or pecan wood (I do this because there’s always more mes- quite available than fruitwood). I put a drip pan directly under the meat to prevent scorching. I often pour half a bottle of Jamaican Red Stripe beer into the drip pan (I drink the other half). I set the pork on the grill rack 6 to 8 inches from the coals, cover it with a pot or lid, and “jerk” it every 15 to 20 minutes until the meat is tender, spicy, and succulent. By the time the pork is done, the pan’s contents are a great dipping sauce.
 

Jerk Rub

You’ll get a better texture if you chop the herbs and pep- pers by hand. A food processor or blender is a time-saver, but it tends to make an overly smooth purée. If you want to use a machine, be sure to pour in the half cup of oil first, and then add the herbs. The thyme and peppers should always be chopped by hand and added at the end. Be care- ful with the peppers, however. Their oils can really burn your eyes and skin, so be sure to wash your hands when you’re finished chopping. And don’t add the seeds unless you like a lot of heat.

If you grind the spices in a coffee mill or spice grinder, start with the nutmeg and cinnamon. Grind these until coarse, then add the other spices, and grind them all to- gether until fine. If you use preground spices, you might need to use more—up to double—depending on how long they’ve been sitting in your cupboard.

Jerk rub is best after a few hours, when its flavors have had a chance to meld. The rub keeps for up to three months in the refrigerator. I tend to jerk everything in sight for a week and then have to make more. Makes 3 cups.

30 scallions
5-in. piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 head fresh garlic cloves, peeled
6 bay leaves
6 to 8 Scotch bonnet peppers, seeded, chopped fine by hand (substitute habaneros if necessary)
2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg, preferably Jamaican 

2 tsp. freshly ground cinnamon (about 1 stick)
1 Tbs. freshly ground allspice, preferably Jamaican 

2 Tbs. black peppercorns, ground fresh
2 Tbs. whole coriander seeds, ground fresh
1 Tbs. sea or kosher salt
1 cup fresh thyme leaves, chopped fine by hand
OPTIONAL:
1⁄2 cup oil (only if using a blender)
1 tsp. apricot jam or honey (only if using habaneros instead
of Scotch bonnets)

Chop the scallions, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, and peppers separately until moderately fine. Combine these ingredients and chop until fine. Put in a bowl and add the ground spices. Stir in the chopped thyme and mix well.

2024-12-29 Sous Vide then BBQ

We wanted to use sous vide because we were planning to serve this for a party and didn't want to fuss over a BBQ for hours.  We got two hunks, one from Bon Area and another from Cruz Morales in Mercat Ninot, and split them into 3 pieces, each 400-500g.  We made the rub with a food processor, leaving the Scallions in fairly large chunks; we used just 2 habañeros and some Italian chili sauce, and the heat turned out well.  We sliced and applied the rub, then bagged for sous vide, and let marinate overnight. 

The next day we cooked one for 4 hours at 80c (176f). We then finished on the BBQ to give it some crunch and color, and dried out the vegetables. We reduced the liquid from the bag to a spicy sauce and served over black eyed peas and rice, along with the crispy veggie rub. The meat was drier than I'd like, and wasn't hard to cut, but could have been more tender. The amount turned out about right for the two of us.

You can see some of the meat is a bit dry and grainy

Most of the recipes I found for "sous vide pork shoulder" used around 75c for up to 24h, but tended to focus on shreddable BBQ texture: Serious Eats 18-24h@74c, Savoring the Good 24h@63-74c, Anova 18-24h@63-74c, and Amazing Food has good qualitative descriptions for 18-48h@57-80c. I hadn't planned ahead for a long cook, since we frequently make pork tenderloin "puerco tonnato" with 2h@58c, which is why I chose the high 80c temperature -- clearly too high for my taste.

Next time, let's try 18-24h@70c, then maybe 18-24h@60c and see which we like best.

2025-02-20 24h@70c tender, not as dry

Sous vide for 24 hours @ 70c was tender (but not mushy) and not as dry as 4h@80c above, but a little drier than I'd like. The meat threw off a lot of liquid, which we whizzed with the veg in the bag and reduced a bit as a zesty sauce. We put the meat over a hot BBQ for a few minutes on all sides to crisp up, but lost some of the veg rub as it stuck on the grill. It's improving, and we'll try again.

Next time us 24h@60c, and do the an initial BBQ sear of the meat on a sizzle pan to (hopefully) set the veg rub, before putting over an open flame to char.

Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin Confit

We're riffing on chef Suzanne Goin's Pork Confit, which is first marinated, then conifitted, and finally flashed on a barbecue to crisp up. We got a lovely pork tenderloin from a heritage pig breakdown seminar, and are cooking it sous vide with her marinade's herbs so it will confit in its own fat: our pork has plenty of fat that will melt. We finish on a hot grill for texture.

1/4 tsp    Juniper berries
1/4 tsp    Allspice berries
1/4 tsp    Fennel seed
1          Clove
1          Bay leaves
1/4 tsp    Black Pepper
1/4 tsp    Granulated Garlic
2          Chile, fresh
2   slices Onion
2   sprigs Thyme, fresh
2   sprigs Parsley, fresh

500 g      Pork Tenderloin, about 2cm thick (1 pound, 1 inch)

Grind hard spaces: Juniper, Allspice, Fennel, Clove, Bay, Black Pepper and rub this powder into both sides of the Pork.
Add the other spices and flavorings with the Pork to a sous vide bag and seal.
Cook at 54C/130F for 4 hours; this will be cook to a rare pink, but that's all we want since we'll finish it later.

Pork bagged with spices and aromatics

When done, let the pork rest in its flavorful fat for an hour in the fridge.
Remove the pork from the bag, saving any tasty juices; you may need to let it warm up a bit to pour off the fat.
Season the Pork generously with Salt, which we omitted from the sous vide because many people say it draws out the liquid and harms the texture.

We like to cook this on a hot BBQ fire, but if the meat is too tender, or you're concerned about fat dripping onto coals causing a flare-up, or you're cooking inside, use a bitchin' hot cast iron pan filmed with a bit of fat.
Sear the outside to develop a bit of a crust, just 2-3 minutes a side; you don't want to cook it more, just bring it up to serving temperature.
Serve.

Results: Great aroma, needs work

The external layer of fat on the pork did not liquefy at this low temperature, so we did not get a cooked-in-fat confit. The aroma was great, however.  The internals were a beautiful faint pink, but this cut was surprisingly chewy:  it may have been due to a heritage pig that got to walk around, rather than being boxed in feed lots. We could sous vide it an extra hour, or bring the temperature up slightly, and add a bit of solid (frozen) fat to ensure a confit. 

Chou Farci: stuffed cabbage

This was enjoyably meticulous to make and turned out really well. It would be a fine component of an Alsace meal. The recipe came from Art of Eating magazine number 88 in 2011. It serves 4 generously, and can be cut in half as we've done in the photos below.

Served with L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, Swiss country beer

I think it could use a higher cabbage-to-meat ratio, as it's pretty rich; we've sometimes added a little chili and lemon zest to brighten it up a bit. Don't bake in a high-sided dish or it will take forever to cook.

700     g       Pork Shoulder (1/4 fat to 3/4 lean), very cold
12      g       Salt
                Black Pepper
        hint    Nutmeg
1       clove   Garlic, finely chopped

Grind together the Pork, Salt, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Garlic. Chill. If you're lazy, you can use prepared sausage, without the skin.

2               Onions, finely chopped (about 250g)
                Lard or fresh-tasting Olive Oil
1       head    Savoy Cabbage (about 1Kg)
2       large   Eggs, very cold
125     gr      White Breadcrumbs
large   handful Chopped Parsley
                Salt
                Pepper
6       slices  Pork Belly or Bacon
500     ml      Chicken Stock
1-2             Ripe Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chipped

Sweat onions in a little fat until translucent but uncolored.

Discard tough outer leaves of cabbage; remove and discard central core.
Remove 12-15 outer leaves, carefully keeping them intact.

Carefully separate the leaves

Place each face down and carefully cut away the protruding portion of the rib to make it flush with the rest of the leaf.
Blanch in salted water until tender, 4-5 minutes; plunge into cold water and drain well.
Slice remaining cabbage into narrow strips; blanch, cool, drain.

 

Combine onions, sausage meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley in large bowl.
Season with salt and pepper. Knead well until mixed.

Of the 15 leaves, reserve the 4 smallest.
Lay the rest flat with concave side up.
Take half the stuffing and divide it among the large leaves, placing on each, according to its size, an approximately plum-sized piece. Pat out stuffing until it reaches within about an inch of the edges of the leaves.

Pork mixture added to leaves before spreading
Squeeze the water from the blanched cabbage strips and mix with the other half of the stuffing. Grease the bottom of an approximately foot-wide baking dish and place the smallest remaining leaf in the center, concave side up. On it place the stuffing-cabbage mixture and shape into a grapefruit-sized ball. Re-create the shape and appearance of the cabbage by first covering the ball with the remaining 4 small plain leaves, making sure the ribs rise from the bottom.

Add the stuffed leaves, one by one, starting with the smallest, distributing them evenly all around the ball's surface, stuffing-side in, and pressing firmly into place.

Place bacon or pork belly slices onto cabbage, radiating from the center down the sides like spokes of a wheel.
Pour Chicken Stock around cabbage to a depth of about 1/2 inch (1 cm)

Everything's better with Irene's bacon

Bake stuffed cabbage in a 325F (165C) oven until center reaches about 165F (73C), about 45-60 minutes. If the liquid evaporates below 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) add more stock (or water) to pan. Baste the cabbage once or twice toward the end of cooking.

Just out of the oven

Transfer the cooked cabbage to a warm serving dish. Pour the jus from the cooking vessel into saucepan, deglazing with a little water if necessary. Add tomato and boil briefly until reduced to thin but not watery sauce. Taste and season with salt, strain.

At the table, cut the cabbage into pie-shaped slices and spoon sauce over them. 

Radiccio and Prepared Chorizo variation

One evening, we threw together a variation of this with what we had in the house, a big head of red Radiccio, and four pieces of Mexican Chorizo; instead of stock, we used a can of industrial lager someone left in our fridge. And you know, it came out really well!  The weights of the ingredients were cut about in half. 

So if you're in a rush, give it a go!