Revolcado

Ingredients

The meat

• 1 kgpork head meat
• cheek, snout and ear
• 400 gpork liver
• 300 gpork heart
• 1onion, halved
• 2bay leaves
• salt

The recado

• 6dried guajillo chillies
• or similar mild dried chillies
• 3dried chillies, hotter
• to taste
• 600 gtomatoes
• 2tomatillos, optional
• 1onion, quartered
• 6garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoonssesame seeds
• 2 tablespoonspumpkin seeds
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoondried oregano
• 2whole cloves
• 1 stickcinnamon, small

The rest

• 3 tablespoonslard or oil
• about 1 litre of the cooking stock
• salt and black pepper

To serve

• white rice
• corn tortillas
• lime wedges

Directions

1. Check the ears and snout carefully. Rinse everything very thoroughly. Pork must be cooked right through. Wash hands very thoroughly after. Grind them in a ventilated place. Do not lean out over the grinder. Rinse all the pork thoroughly. Check the ears for any bristles. Rinse everything under cold water.
2. Trim off any obviously fatty parts. Put the head meat in a large pot. Cover it with plenty of cold water. Add the onion, bay leaves and salt. Bring the pot up to a bare simmer. Keep it at the barest simmer only. Skim all of the scum as it rises. Grey scum rises in the first half hour.
3. Lift it off with a large flat spoon. Keep skimming until no more rises. Cooking it takes about two hours. Let it simmer for about two hours. Head meat needs genuinely long cooking.
4. Add the heart after thirty minutes. Heart needs about ninety minutes. Pull all of the stems off as well. Keep some seeds if you want more heat. Toast the chillies in a dry pan. Give them about thirty seconds a side. Cover the toasted chillies with hot water. Give them about twenty full minutes.
5. Keep some of that soaking water. Toast the sesame and pumpkin seeds. Toast them separately from each other. Shake the pan constantly throughout. Do it in a dry pan or under a grill. Peel it once it has fully charred. Put everything in a blender together.
6. Add a little soaking water to loosen it. Blend it into a smooth thick paste. Give it a good two full minutes. Add more liquid only if it will not turn. A thick paste is what is wanted. Heat the lard in a heavy deep pot. Add all the recado paste to it. Stand well back as you add it.
7. Use a deep pot rather than a pan. Cover it partly over with a lid. Fry the paste for about ten minutes. Stir it constantly as it fries. Thick paste catches and burns fast. Cut the cooked head meat and heart. Cut them into bite sized pieces. About two centimetres is right.
8. Cut them up while they are still warm. Add the cut meat to the recado. Pour in all of the reserved stock. It should just cover the meat. Add more stock later if it dries. Do not drown the meat in it at all.
9. Let it simmer for about twenty minutes. The meat takes up the recado flavour. Stir it often so it does not catch. Cut the liver into small pieces. Add it for the last twenty minutes. Liver toughens if it cooks long. Cut one piece open to check it. It should be cooked right through.
10. Taste it and then adjust the salt. Taste before adding much more. Add plenty of black pepper to it. Add more chilli for more heat. Judging it takes a careful look. Cook it down further if it is thin. Add more stock if it is too thick. Serving it is always done hot. Serve it over plain white rice. Serve corn tortillas alongside. Rice soaks up the thick sauce.

Technique

• The three meats go in at different times because they cook at different rates: head meat needs two hours or more, the heart about ninety minutes, and the liver only twenty. Liver toughens and goes grainy and dry very fast if it cooks long, so add it at the very end and check a piece is cooked through with no pink but still tender.
• Toast the dried chillies only about thirty seconds a side, watching constantly — they burn extremely fast and there is no rescuing a burnt one, which turns the whole sauce bitter. Toast the sesame and pumpkin seeds separately, since they brown at different rates and burn within seconds of browning.
• Fry the blended recado for a full ten minutes until it darkens and the oil separates at the edges, which is what shows it is cooked — raw recado tastes harsh and sharp. It spits considerably going into the hot fat, so stand back, use a deep pot and cover it partly, and stir constantly since thick paste catches and burns fast.

Substitutions

• Any mild dried chilli stands in for guajillo, with a few hotter ones added to taste; keep some of the seeds in if you want more heat, though they carry bitterness as well.
• Straining the blended paste through a sieve removes chilli skins and seeds for a much smoother sauce; some cooks skip it entirely.

Variations

• Char the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a dry pan or under a grill until blackened in patches, which adds real smokiness and is a genuine part of the recado; char the garlic in its skin so it does not burn through, then peel it.
• Rinse the head meat thoroughly and check the ears for remaining bristles, scraping them off with a sharp knife. Simmer at the barest bubble and skim the scum thoroughly, since a hard boil toughens the meat and clouds the stock that becomes the stew liquid.
• Dried chillies carry capsaicin that transfers to hands and then eyes, and grinding them makes a dust that irritates eyes and throat — grind in a ventilated place, do not lean over the grinder, and wash hands thoroughly.

History

A thrift dish of the village pig killing, using head, liver and heart in the same toasted-chile sauce base as Guatemala’s other recados.

Frequently asked questions

What is Revolcado?

Revolcado is a main from Guatemala: pork head and offal stewed in a red tomato and chile recado. A thrift dish of the village pig killing, using head, liver and heart in the same toasted-chile sauce base as Guatemala’s other recados.

How long does Revolcado take to make?

Revolcado takes 1 hour of preparation and 2 hours 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Revolcado?

Yes, within limits. Any mild dried chilli stands in for guajillo, with a few hotter ones added to taste; keep some of the seeds in if you want more heat, though they carry bitterness as well. Straining the blended paste through a sieve removes chilli skins and seeds for a much smoother sauce; some cooks skip it entirely.

What is the most important thing to get right in Revolcado?

Check the ears and snout carefully. Rinse everything very thoroughly. Pork must be cooked right through. Wash hands very thoroughly after. Grind them in a ventilated place. Do not lean out over the grinder. Rinse all the pork thoroughly. Check the ears for any bristles. Rinse everything under cold water.