My First Leg of Pig

A little while back Katongo and I had a pig leg that needed to be cooked -or more I was so enticed by it every time I opened the freezer that we finally decided to go for it and cook the whole thing. Never having tackled something like this before I poked around on the internet for some inspiration and advice. There were only a few pig leg recipes I found as most were for other cuts of the animal but all provided some wonderful culinary daydreams. The recipe we chose to be our main visionary guideline was for Hornado de Chancho (recipe below).

Hornado de Chancho – Roasted Pork Leg

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

As we did not have all of the necessary ingredients we decided to deviate slightly from the plan (not that Katongo ever really follows a recipe anyway). I can not include the resulting recipe as it was such a spontaneous creation however mouth-watering photos can be seen below. 

Our pork leg was about half the size. After cleaning it and scoring the skin I doused it in lemon juice and beer before applying a healthy serving of a garlic Cajun dry rub mix we created. After letting the flavors sink in we then let the pork leg bath in a Cajun  butter and beer marinade for over 48 hours. Once ready we roasted it in the oven for a few hours adding some potatoes to the brew partway through, constantly drenching the meat with the marinade and more delicious Carling Black Label beer. 

roast pork leg

The resulting dinner was so much more flavorful and juicy and melt-in-your-mouth-scrumptious that we had expected of ourselves. Even with his family helping us we still had leftover for days, not that we complained one bit. Weeks later we still reminisce about this meal - so much so that Katongo has decided to kill a pig and attempt to recreate it for my parents when they come to visit in November. I hope you bring your appetites mom and dad!

roast pork leg