Hornado de chancho – Roasted Pork Leg

Hornado is a typical dish from Ecuador and is usually sold at stands or markets, most of these places will roast the whole pig, which is usually roasted in a large outdoor clay oven. Also, the original recipe uses a typical drink made from fermented corn called chicha instead of beer, and also uses lard instead of butter. I made this for the first time on January 1^st for a “hangover recovery” lunch; I would probably do it more often but would try to find a smaller sized pig leg, maybe a 10 pound one. I wasn’t able to find the pork leg at any of the regular grocery stores and found it a local butcher’s (it was the last one they had).

It is impossible to enjoy this dish by itself, the sides are a very important part (and this is true for many Ecuadorian dishes), I can’t imagine eating hornado without tasting the mote (hominy) or curtido or avocado in the same bite. There are a lot of options for side dishes and these will vary from one region to another and from one restaurant to another, and of course it depends on each person’s personal preferences (and the ingredients and time you have available).

This recipe is time consuming as the pork leg needs to marinate for three days, this is the optimal way of preparing it so that all the flavors sink in to the meat, however it is possible to marinate for only a day or a couple of hours.

Ingredients:

20 pound whole pork leg (for about 40 people)

Juice of 3 limes

40 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons of ground cumin

3 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of ground pepper

8 cups of beer for marinating and 6 cups of beer for baking

12 ounces of butter (3 sticks)

2 tablespoons of ground achiote or annatto seed

Optional: 8-10 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut in half

Preparation:

1. Make sure the pork leg is clean and place it in a large non-reactive roasting pan (make sure it will fit in the fridge as well as the oven).
2. Prepare the “aliño” by mixing the crushed garlic, ground cumin, salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle the lime juice all over the pork leg.
4. Make several deep incisions on both sides of pork leg and begin stuffing the incisions with the “aliño”, also rub the “aliño” all over the meat. Let rest for 24 hours in the fridge.
5. Pour the 8 cups of beer over the pork leg and let it marinade for another 48 hours, turning the leg every 6-8 hours.
6. Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C), let the pork leg bake for about 30 minutes.
7. In the meantime, in a small saucepan, melt a stick of butter on low heat, stir in the 1 tablespoon of the ground achiote and mix well.
8. Lower the oven temperature to 350F and pour the melted butter mix on the pork leg.
9. To keep the pork leg from drying out you will need to “bañar” or bathe the pork leg using a soup ladle with the pan sauces about every 20 minutes.
10. When the pan sauces start to dry up, melt the remaining 2 butter sticks on low heat, mix in the remaining 6 cups of beer and 1 tablespoon of ground achiote and pour over the pork leg. Make sure the mix is hot to keep the pork skin from cracking.
11. Turn the pork leg over after about 3 hours of cooking and lower the temperature to 325F. Continue bathing every 20 minutes.
12. After 3 hours, turn the leg back over, some of the skin might have begun to peel off due to being directly in the sauce, try to place the skin back in place and bake for the last 2 hours. Add the potatoes at this point if you want to bake the potatoes with the pig leg, they will absorb the yummy sauces and be delicious.
13. Total roasting time should be about 8 hours for a 20 pound pork leg, internal temperature should be 160.
14. Before removing the leg from the oven, sprinkle cold water on the skin for it to “reventar” or pop (this is optional).
15. Serve with your choice of side dishes including the potatoes baked with the pork leg, mote blanco frito, curtido de cebolla y tomate, avocado slices, lettuce and aji. Other popular side dishes for hornado include rice, yuca, and llapingachos. See below for links to these recipes.

Suggested side dishes for hornado

Mote frito en salsa de hornado / Hominy sautéed in roasted pork gravy sauce

Curtido de cebolla y tomate / Pickled red onion and tomato salad

Platanos maduros fritos / Fried plantains

Aji criollo / Fresh spicy salsa

Llapingachos / Stuffed potato patties

Yuca

Rice

Avocado slices

Lettuce

Other recipes: