Carne de Chango

The pork smoked over dry sugarcane husks before it ever meets the grill, which is where all the flavour comes from.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

the pork

• 1.2 kg pork loin, in thin slices
• 6 guajillo chillies, soaked and drained
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt

for smoking

• 2 large handfuls dry sugarcane husks, or dry maize husks

to serve

• corn tortillas, as on their own page
• pico de gallo, as on its own page
• lime wedges

Method

1. THE PORK IS SMOKED OVER DRY SUGARCANE HUSKS BEFORE IT EVER MEETS THE GRILL, and that is where all the flavour comes from. The marinade is unremarkable -- guajillo, garlic, vinegar -- and on its own would give a pleasant enchilado pork like several others on this site. What makes this dish is a separate smoking stage: the marinated slices are laid on a rack over a smouldering handful of dry sugarcane husks, covered, and smoked for twenty-five minutes at low heat before any grilling happens. Cane husk smoke is sweet and faintly caramel, quite unlike wood smoke, and it is the whole character of the dish. Skip it and there is no version of this worth the name.
2. THE HUSKS SMOULDER AND MUST NOT CATCH FIRE. A small handful on a few embers, or in a foil tray on the hob over a low flame. They should produce steady pale smoke. In flame they burn out in a minute and give soot rather than smoke, and sooty pork is bitter.
3. IT IS SMOKED COLD-ISH AND COOKED AFTERWARDS. The point of the smoking stage is flavour, not cooking: the pan or smoker is kept low enough that the pork is barely warm when it comes out, still raw. Then it goes on a hot grill for two or three minutes a side. Smoked hot, the slices cook through during the smoking and are dry by the time they are grilled.
4. THE SLICES ARE THIN AND LAID FLAT WITH GAPS. Smoke has to reach both faces of every slice. Overlapped on the rack, the covered parts come out pale and unsmoked and the dish is uneven in a way that cannot be fixed afterwards.
5. DRY MAIZE HUSKS ARE THE HONEST SUBSTITUTE AND ARE NOT THE SAME. They give a cleaner, grassier smoke without the caramel note. Said plainly rather than offered as an equal, because cane husk is the thing being substituted for.
6. The soaked guajillos blended with the garlic, oregano, vinegar and salt to a thick paste.
7. The pork slices turned through it and left 4 HOURS, or overnight.
8. The husks put in a foil tray or on a few embers and lit, then damped so they SMOULDER with steady pale smoke. They must NOT flame.
9. The pork laid FLAT on a rack above them, with GAPS -- no slice overlapping another.
10. Covered with a lid, a tray or a tent of foil.
11. SMOKED 25 MINUTES at a LOW heat. The pork should come out barely warm and still RAW.
12. The husks topped up once if the smoke thins.
13. A grill or griddle heated until very hot.
14. The smoked slices laid on and cooked 2 to 3 MINUTES a side, turned ONCE, until charred at the edges and just cooked.
15. RESTED 3 minutes, then chopped coarsely.
16. Served with tortillas, pico de gallo and lime.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes