At midnight this Christmas Eve, at a time when I am usually fast asleep, I was sitting down to dinner with about 18 of my lively Venezuelan relatives around a makeshift table in our dining room. Rather than the American Christmas dinner of roast turkey or prime rib with the customary accompaniments, we ate the traditional Venezuelan dinner: hallacas, the Christmas tamale filled with hen, pork, beef, olives, almonds, capers and raisins; pan con jamon, a roulade made with sweet bread dough and ham; a salad of potatoes, carrots and mayonnaise; and the star of the evening, my mother-in-law, Rosa’s, incomparable pork roast.
I’d been hearing about this pork roast for years from my wife. It would be better than any roast pork dish I would ever taste, she assured me. I had high expectations when I tried it for the first time. And there’s nothing better, or rarer in life, than having high expectations completely fulfilled.
The roast was sliced thinly and served with its own pan juices. It was tender and moist with a deep umami flavor. My wife asked me to guess what was in it. Other than garlic and Worcestershire sauce — I could pick out that sauce’s mix of anchovies, tamarind and molasses — I was at a loss.
Here is the recipe. My mother-in- law makes it with fragrant Peruvian oregano and papelon, a kind of coarse raw sugar with a strong molasses flavor found in the tropics. Both products are difficult to find here. You can substitute good-quality Mexican oregano for the Peruvian oregano; for the papelon, you can use Mexican piloncillo or even brown sugar.
Be careful not to allow the pan drippings to burn: the sauce the roast makes is every bit as good as the roast itself.
John Broening cooks at Duo and Olivea restaurants in Denver.
Venezuelan Pork Roast
Note: Piloncillo can be found in many Latino markets. Serves 6.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or piloncillo)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 boneless pork leg about 2 1/2 pounds
Directions
The day before: With a mortar and pestle, crush the salt, garlic and oregano into a fine paste. Rub the roast all over with the garlic paste.
Whisk together the tomato paste, white vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Rub the roast all over with the tomato paste mixture. Refrigerate covered overnight.
The next day, remove the roast from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the roast in a pan on a roasting rack. Place it in the oven. After about a half-hour and once the roast has started to render its fat and the drippings on the bottom of the pan have started to caramelize, add a half-cup of water to the pan — this will keep the drippings from burning. Roast the pork to an internal temperature of 150 degrees.
Remove the roast and let it rest in a warm place, loosely covered with foil, for about 20 minutes.
Skim the fat from the pan juices with a spoon. Slice the roast thinly and serve covered with pan juices.
