Ajiaco Criollo

Method

1. 01

   Soak the tasajo8–12 hours, overnight

   Cover the tasajo with cold water by 8 to 10 cm. Keep it refrigerated throughout the soak. Change the water two or three times. Drain in the morning.

   Salt has to leave the muscle. A short soak leaves a brine bomb you cannot un-salt once the roots are in.

   Cover tasajo with cold water by 8–10 cm and refrigerate throughout the 8–12-hour soak. Change water two or three times, then drain in the morning.

2. 02

   Pre-simmer the tasajo45–60 min

   Cover the drained tasajo with fresh water and simmer at 90–95 °C / 195–205 °F for 45 to 60 minutes. Taste a shred: still salty, no longer harsh.

   Drain, and discard that water. Cut into 3 cm pieces.

   If you are using chuck as the substitute, skip this step — it goes in raw with the pork.

   Cover drained tasajo with fresh water and simmer at 90–95 °C / 195–205 °F for 45–60 minutes until a shred tastes salty but not harsh. Discard cooking water and cut into 3 cm pieces. For the chuck substitute, skip this and add raw with pork.

3. 03

   Sofrito12–15 min

   Set the heavy pot over medium heat with the lard or oil. If you are using chorizo, lay the coins in for 2 to 3 minutes until the fat runs, then scoop them out.

   Add the onion and pepper with a pinch of salt. Cook until the onion is translucent and a little gold at the edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Garlic for 30 to 45 seconds, until it smells sweet, not brown. Tomato, if using, for 2 to 3 minutes, until it slumps.

   Off the heat ten seconds. Stir in the cumin and oregano for thirty seconds. The fat should smell like cumin and oregano, not dust.

   Those spices are fat-soluble. Burnt garlic is bitter for the whole three hours.

   Heat fat over medium; render optional chorizo 2–3 minutes and remove. Cook onion and pepper with a pinch of salt 8–10 minutes until translucent and lightly golden. Add garlic 30–45 seconds, then optional tomato 2–3 minutes. Remove from heat 10 seconds; stir cumin and oregano in for 30 seconds without scorching.

4. 04

   Meats and broth60–75 min

   Return the chorizo if you used it. Add the tasajo and pork. Pour on 3 L of water, to cover by 3 to 4 cm. Add the salt, pepper, and bay.

   Bring to a boil, then drop to a low simmer — a lazy break of bubbles, 90–95 °C / 195–205 °F. Lid ajar. Skim dirty foam in the first 15 minutes, but not every slick of fat.

   At 45 minutes the pork should be going from tight to yielding. Add the chicken and simmer another 20 to 30 minutes, until the chicken at the bone is past raw — 74 °C / 165 °F in a thigh — but not falling into threads yet.

   Pork collagen converts to gelatin with time above roughly 80 °C. A rolling boil shreds chicken. The chicken waits so it does not spend the whole pork clock in the pot.

   Return optional chorizo; add tasajo and pork, 3 L water to cover by 3–4 cm, salt, pepper and bay. Boil, then simmer at 90–95 °C / 195–205 °F with lid ajar, skimming early foam for 15 minutes. At 45 minutes add chicken; cook another 20–30 minutes until thighs reach 74 °C / 165 °F without falling apart.

5. 05

   Hard viandas40–50 min

   Add the yuca, malanga, and green plantain. Add hot water if the food is not under 2 to 3 cm of broth. Stir from the bottom every 10 to 15 minutes once the starch starts to leak.

   At 25 minutes the green plantain edges are matte and tender and the yuca still has a waxy heart. At 40 to 50 minutes a knife should slide through the yuca and malanga. If it does not, keep going.

   Do not smash yet. Smash too early and you get a purée that scorches while you wait on the last hard chunk.

   Add peeled yuca with bark, pink layer and woody core removed, peeled malanga and green plantain. Keep under 2–3 cm broth, adding hot water as needed; stir from the bottom every 10–15 minutes. Cook 40–50 minutes or longer until a knife slides through yuca and malanga. Never serve yuca raw or al dente; do not mash yet.

6. 06

   Soft viandas20–25 min

   Add the calabaza, corn rounds, and ripe plantain. Simmer until the squash yields and the ripe plantain starts to fray, 20 to 25 minutes. The corn kernels should still pop.

   Taste for salt. The broth should be cloudy and gold-orange, smelling of cumin, pork, and sweet squash.

   Calabaza and maduro collapse on a shorter clock, which is why they go in late — so you still have cubes.

   Add large calabaza chunks, corn rounds and ripe plantain. Simmer 20–25 minutes until squash yields and ripe plantain begins fraying while corn retains its pop. Taste and adjust salt.

7. 07

   Smash for body5–10 min

   When the yuca is tender and the pork yields, mash about a third of the malanga, some yuca, and a couple of squash chunks against the wall of the pot. Stir.

   The liquid should go from brothy to opaque and heavy, and coat a spoon. If it still reads as soup, smash more. If it reads as porridge, loosen with hot water. Leave most pieces intact.

   Stir in most of the recao or cilantro, saving a little for the bowls.

   Body is broken starch in the liquor plus gelatin from the bones. Cream is a costume. A blender makes baby food.

   Once yuca and pork are tender, mash about one-third of the malanga, some yuca and a couple of squash pieces against the pot. Stir until opaque and spoon-coating, leaving most pieces intact. Mash more if thin; add hot water if porridge-thick. Stir in most recao, reserving garnish.

8. 08

   Acid, then rest15–20 min

   Off the heat. Stir in the naranja agria, or the lime-and-orange stand-in.

   Taste: seasoned, porky, a little sweet from the calabaza and maduro, with a sharp edge that was not there before the acid.

   Lid on, 15 to 20 minutes. The starch sets a little.

   Acid at the end is perfume. Acid at the beginning fights the simmer.

   Remove from heat and stir in bitter orange juice, or the lime-orange substitute. Taste for balanced salt, meatiness, sweetness and acidity, then cover and rest 15–20 minutes before serving.