Lechón Asado en Medallones
Lechón Asado en Medallones·(leh-CHOHN ah-SAH-doh en meh-dah-YOH-nes)
Nochebuena y Domingos en Familia: Rituals, Weekends, and Holidays
This isn't a twelve-hour caja china. Real lechón asado is an all-day undertaking of smoke, rum, and dominoes that requires an entire pig and a pit in the ground, but for Wednesday at 6 p.m., by utilizing lean pork tenderloin and the exact, heavily spiced Mojo para Carnes used for the holiday pig, you can recreate the soul of Nochebuena in under twenty minutes of active cooking. Drop the pork into a smoking cast-iron skillet, let the marinade hiss, and unleash that unmistakable cloud of garlic, sour orange, and toasted cumin hitting hot fat that smells exactly like a Miami backyard on Christmas Eve.
Before you start
Remove the silver skin.
Pork tenderloin has a tough, fibrous membrane running down one side that will not break down during a quick sear. Slip a sharp knife under the membrane and cleanly slice it away before cutting your medallions.
Ingredients
- sweet orange juice1/3 cup
- lime juice3 tbsp
- lemon juice2 tbsp
- garlic8 med cloves
- kosher salt1 1/2 tsp
- ground cumin1 tsp
- dried oregano1 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
- olive oil1/4 cup
- pork tenderloin1 1/2 lb
- white onion1 large
- pork lard1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Smash the garlic and salt into a paste.
Place the garlic cloves and kosher salt into a mortar and pestle and crush them together until they break down into a sticky, fragrant paste.
- 02
Emulsify the mojo marinade.
Transfer the garlic paste to a medium bowl and aggressively whisk in the cumin, oregano, black pepper, citrus juices, and olive oil.
- 03
Marinate the pork.
Place the medallions in a sealed bag or dish and massage three-quarters of the marinade into the meat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but no more than four hours. Reserve the untouched quarter of the marinade in the fridge.
- 04
Dry the pork before cooking.
Remove the pork from the fridge 15 minutes prior to cooking and pat the medallions completely dry with paper towels to ensure a proper sear.
- 05
Sear the medallions in hot fat.
Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and melt the lard. Once it lightly smokes, add the pork in a single layer and sear undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes per side until a deep, dark crust forms and the center hits 140°F.
- 06
Rest the meat.
Transfer the pork to a plate and cover loosely with foil, allowing carry-over cooking to bring it to a juicy, slightly pink 145°F.
- 07
Build the pan sauce.
Reduce the skillet heat to medium and sauté the onions in the leftover pork drippings for 3 minutes. Pour in the reserved, untouched mojo to deglaze the pan, boiling it for 60 seconds to form a tangy, loose sauce.
- 08
Serve immediately.
Plate the rested medallions and spoon the onions and pan sauce generously over the top.
Notes
Respect the two mojos.
In Cuban cooking, the sauce for root vegetables uses lime and garlic with no spices, but the marinade for meat—Mojo para Carnes—must contain sour orange, cumin, and oregano. Never mix them up.
Faking sour orange.
Fresh naranja agria is difficult to find in standard American supermarkets during winter, and the bottled versions taste metallic. The provided ratio of sweet orange, lime, and lemon perfectly mimics the acidic, floral profile of the real fruit.
From Cook Cuban in America.