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Relleno de cerdo
Tierra Caliente's festive stuffed pork, made at home with a boned shoulder filled with plantain, potato, olives and raisins
In Guerrero's Tierra Caliente, around Ciudad Altamirano, relleno de cerdo is the centrepiece of weddings and saints' days: a whole pig is stuffed with fruit, vegetables and its own chopped meat, rubbed with chilli and roasted for hours, then served in tortas or tacos. This home version is a pork dish for an ordinary oven, using a boned pork shoulder rubbed with a guajillo adobo and rolled around a stuffing of ripe plantain, potato, carrot, olives, raisins and almonds, so you get the same sweet, salty and spicy mix. Slice it thickly with its juices, warm tortillas, rice and pickled jalapeños. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to butterfly the shoulder evenly to about 3 cm thick; an even slab rolls neatly and cooks at the same rate all through.
- Total time
- 300 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the pork
For the adobo
For the stuffing
To cook and serve
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What you'll need
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Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Toast 6 dried guajillo chillies and 1 dried ancho chilli in a dry pan over a medium heat for 10–15 seconds a side until fragrant, then soak in just-boiled water until soft.
15 minStep 2: Drain and blend with 5 cloves garlic, ¼ cup cider vinegar, ½ cup fresh orange juice, ½ tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano and ½ tsp ground black pepper to a thick, smooth paste.
Step 3: Lay 5 ½ lb boneless pork shoulder, butterflied skin side down, season with 1 tbsp salt and rub half of the adobo all over the cut side. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
120 minStep 4: Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry 1 white onion until soft. Add 2 ripe tomatoes and cook until they collapse.
8 minStep 5: Add 10 ½ oz waxy potatoes and 2 carrots with 4 tablespoons of water, cover and cook until just tender when pierced but still holding their shape.
10 minStep 6: Stir in 1 ripe plantain (skin mostly black), 2 ⅞ oz pitted green olives, 2 ⅛ oz raisins, 1 ¾ oz blanched almonds, 5 ½ oz fresh pineapple and 1 tsp salt and cook for 3 minutes. Spread out on a tray and leave to cool completely; hot stuffing would start to warm the raw pork.
20 minStep 7: Heat the oven to 325°F (fan 275°F). Spread the cooled stuffing over the pork, leaving a 3 cm border. Don't overfill it: packing in too much is the usual reason the roll bursts open in the oven. Bake any extra stuffing separately.
Step 8: Roll the pork up tightly from a long side and tie it with kitchen string at 3 cm intervals. Rub the outside with the rest of the adobo.
Step 9: Put the roll in a roasting tin with 1 ¼ cups water, cover tightly with foil and roast, basting every hour.
180 minStep 10: Uncover, turn the oven up to 400°F (fan 350°F) and roast until the outside is dark red and sticky, the meat is tender when pierced and the centre of the stuffing reads at least 160°F; because the surface of the meat is rolled inside, check the very middle.
40 minStep 11: Rest for 20 minutes, loosely covered, then remove the string and cut into thick slices. Spoon the pan juices over and serve with 16 warm corn tortillas and 3 ½ oz pickled jalapeños.
20 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 720 kcal
- Protein
- 58 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 40 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does relleno de cerdo take?
- About 300 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 240 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
- What can I use instead of cider vinegar?
- Lemon juice, same amount.
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