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Pulled pork hornado

Name: Pulled pork hornado
Total time: 5 h
Ingredients: pork shoulder 2kg, skin scored; garlic 8 cloves; ground cumin 1 tbsp; ground coriander 1 tbsp; smoked paprika 2 tsp; unsalted butter 50g; limes 2, juiced, plus extra wedges to serve; IPA beers 355ml

5 hours + overnight marinating
serves 6-8
Easy

Check out this melt-in-the-mouth pulled pork with super crispy crackling. Ideal for a summery social gathering

Published: May 5, 2018 at 4:01 pm

This recipe was written by John Gregory-Smith, inspired by his recent trip to Ecuador…

Every morning in the central food market of Ecuador’s cool colonial capital, Quito, a queue of people forms around 9am, all waiting to get their hands on the heavenly hornado that’s cooked daily. It’s a wonderful pork dish, roasted in beer and spices, until soft and tender. The meat has a lovely fragrance and zesty pop from lashings of lime juice. It’s fabulous stuffed generously into a roll and served with a crunchy salad or over rice with aji chilli sauce.

Ingredients

pork shoulder 2kg, skin scored
garlic 8 cloves
ground cumin 1 tbsp
ground coriander 1 tbsp
smoked paprika 2 tsp
unsalted butter 50g
limes 2, juiced, plus extra wedges to serve
IPA beers 355ml

Method

Step 1

Put the pork in a large dish and pat dry with kitchen paper. Blend the garlic in a mini food processor with the cumin, coriander, paprika, butter, the juice of 1 lime and a good pinch of salt. Slather the spiced butter all over the meat of the pork, avoiding the skin. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
Step 2

Remove the pork from the fridge an hour before cooking, to come to room temperature. Heat the oven to 240C/fan 220C/gas 9. Transfer the meat to a roasting tray, pour the beer in around the joint (not over it), cover with a double layer of foil and put into the oven. Reduce the temperature to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and cook for 2 hours.
Step 3

Remove the pork from the oven, baste really well (again, avoiding the skin), re-cover and return to the oven for 1½-2 hours or until really tender.
Step 4

Carefully cut and pull the skin from the pork using a pair of tongs to protect your fingers, leaving as much fat behind as possible – this will help the crackling crisp. Put the skin on a baking tray and put back in the oven, uncovered. Cook until it has turned into really crisp crackling.
Step 5

Trim and discard any excess fat from the pork then remove from the tin, cover and rest for 20 minutes. Pour the juices from the tin into a jug and skim off any fat. Add the juices left to a small pan with 300ml of water and simmer until reduced slightly.
Step 6

Using two forks, shred the pork and pour over ¹/2 of the reduced cooking juices. Squeeze over the remaining lime juice and season with salt. Toss together and transfer to a warmed serving dish. Serve immediately with the crackling, the remaining juices in a bowl, the lime wedges, chilli sauce and bread or rice.