Are you wondering how to throw a Cuban themed party at home without preparing the exact same recipe from last year?
It will definitely add the WOW factor to your family dinner celebration
Whether it is for a Christmas party, New Year's Eve or any other holidays where you meet with friends and family, we can assure you, this Cuban flavor will make people keep calling you to ask for the recipe for a while.
As the melting pot that the Cuban culture is, the Island’s cuisine has a lot to offer from their mix of Spanish, African, and Asian flavors. It is true that the Lechon Asado is the traditional flavor, and smell, in any of the island’s celebrations, but it can get a little boring to do the same dish over and over in family gatherings. If you want to keep the Cuban themed idea for your holiday recipe, with a new, yet traditional, vibe, this Lechon variation will come in very handy.
It is a family recipe that Jesus Puerto’s parents (Soul de Cuba’s founder) did when he was growing up. Here you have a mix between Jesus’ family recipe and the Chinese-Cuban Lechon notes from Icuban. Check it out!
Lechon Estilo Chino-Cubano
Chinese-Cuban Style Pork Roast
Ingredients:
5-pound pork meat (usually a pork shoulder or pork let)
1/2 cup cooked black beans
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons five-spice powder
5 cloves garlic, minced
For the glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup honey
Instructions:
For the Glaze
Add all of the glaze ingredients to a 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.
Wash your pork roast thoroughly and pat dry with a paper towel.
Mash up the cooked black beans in a mixing bowl. Then add orange juice, soy sauce, sherry, sugar, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder, and garlic (you can use our ready-to-ship cuban mojos here too). Mix everything together. Spoon this mixture to cover the outside of the roast.
Preheat your outdoor charcoal or gas grill. You'll want to use the indirect heat method to cook this roast. On a covered charcoal grill, bank your coals to the sides of the grill, leaving a section with no charcoal beneath it. On a three- or four-burner gas grill, light only the side burners or front and back burners. On a two-burner gas grill, just light one burner.
Place the pork roast on the unheated side of the grill and close the cover. On a gas grill, adjust the flame so that the grill temperature is approximately 300 degrees F.
After the first 20 minutes of roasting, baste your pork roast every 15 minutes with the glaze mixture.
After about an hour on the grill, test for doneness with a meat thermometer. Using a meat thermometer, you should remove the roast from the grill when the temperature reaches 155° F.
Remove the roast to a serving platter and lightly tent the roast with some aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray. This will allow the meat to continue cooking for about 10 to 15 minutes. The spray and the light touch with the tenting will help keep the aluminum foil from sticking to the glaze.
Carve with a sharp knife and serve hot with your favorite side dishes.
Want to add other ideas for your Cuban-style party?
If you still wonder what Christmas looks like in Cuba, we can assure you that it includes yuca, tostones, and rice & beans. Consider adding these traditional flavors to your night.
To drink, offer mojitos; and for dessert, buñuelos. It doesn’t get any more Cuban than that. You can check how our dear Swaye does the mojitos at Soul de Cuba on our Facebook or Instagram account.
If you are seriously considering using classic Cuban mojos/marinades, check here the variations that we use at Soul de Cuba restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. Sometimes we use a spicy version (with habanero peppers), others a sweet one (using honey). Check the ready-to-ship mojos and marinades at our Cuban Online Market and make your holiday recipes even easier today!
About this chinese-cuban traditionoal recipe and the way it has been cooked with the caja china:
El barrio chino is a strong part of Havana’s culture: a neighborhood that keeps its strong Asian roots, mixed with the African descendants that gave place to a new mix in our culture.
In Cuba there was a non very common mix between the Asian community and the rest of the cultures that inhabit the Island. Among other cultural contributions, the mix cuisine is one of the most highlighted themes.
The use of the Chinese box o la Caja China is the way that the Lechon has traditionally been roasted in El Barrio Chino (Havana’s Chinatown). It is a small metal & wood box, which comes very handy to cook and move the whole roast pork or pork leg from one place to another.
More than the ingredients, this dish is famous for the use of the caja china, and its variations when cooking a traditional Lechon for holiday celebrations.
The recipe that appears here is a variation to accommodate the idea of Caja china to an easy-to-prepare grill-made dish at home.
Buen provecho!
