Portuguese Marinated Pork
A little indulgence sometimes 🙂
You’ve probably come to discover that some of our posts are about healthy options, while others are… less so.
This would be one of those less healthy, but so yummy, indulgences–straight from the pages of Nelson’s personal history book.
Nelson’s special notebook
Yup, this is another recipe from Nelson’s notebook–the book Nelson’s mom hand-wrote for him–filled with recipes of many of the meals that Nelson grew up with and which were connected to the traditions he remembers fondly from his teenage years, living in the Azores.
A popular dish…
These marinated pork cubes or torresmos are a very popular and traditional dish in various regions of Portugal; more so in the Azores and Madeira islands.
This dish is not for the faint of heart and we don’t recommend anyone consumes this on a daily basis. Oh…you’ll want to once you taste this…but you shouldn’t.
Living on the Island of Pico in the Azores
As I’ve mentioned before, Nelson spent his teenage years living on the Island of Pico in the Azores. Back then, many people raised a pig or two for personal consumption.
Slaughter time was usually around December or January and it was much more than just food prep time. It was typically a large family gathering.
The men would “do the deed” (no need for details) first thing in the morning, right after eating dried figs and drinking moonshine… don’t judge, it was cold!
Then came the cleaning, prep and cutting of the pig. While this was going on, Nelson’s mom, cousins and friends (normally the women) would prepare large feasts through-out the day (fish, meat, seafood and fresh bread), for the hungry crowd.
The division of work might sound sexist, but it’s just the way Nelson always remembered it. I think everyone was just really comfortable with the tradition.
I’ve experienced this event myself once and I found it interesting–very much rooted in old traditions, and everyone going about their tasks quite naturally and happily.
Good’ol fashion entertainment
Throughout the day and into the evening, there was singing of folk songs, loud card games, kids running around hooking the pig tail onto the belt loop of unsuspecting guests, fisherman stories, and always lots of food and wine being served.
Sometimes groups of masqueraded people from the community would visit the homes where this was going on, and join in the fun.
Remember, for Nelson, this was the early 80’s; Playstation, xBox, iPads, personal computers and other electronic devices hadn’t arrived yet, so entertainment was a lot more simple than it is today.
Great memories
As I mentioned, I experienced this event in the Azores once myself, and I still remember the details of the day with fondness. It was a lot of fun and truly heart-warming to see how family and friends worked and bonded through the traditions of this event.
Traditions and great food!
From this event came the tradition behind this recipe. These marinated pork cubes were often made the day after the main event or through-out the next few months.
Common side dishes were sweet potato, yams, locally made corn bread or flat bread bread and even other cuts of meat like blood sausage.
This may not be a healthy meal, but if you’re okay with the occasional indulgence (like we are), this is an amazing dish and it makes the house smell so good! We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.
Portuguese Marinated Pork
- 2½ lbs pork shoulder (pork butt)
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbs red pimento paste (sweet)
- ⅓ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 tbs piri pier hot sauce
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2 tbs canola oil (or vegetable oil)
- In a medium bowl, add the garlic, pimento paste, lime juice, white wine, salt and hot sauce.
- Mix the wine mixture well to dissolve the salt.
- Cut the pork into large cubes.
- Place the pork pieces in a large freezer bag (with seal) and pour the garlic and wine mixture over the meat.
- Remove most of the air from the bag and seal.
- With the bag sealed, move the meat and marinade around until all the meat is well coated.
- Place the bag in the fridge overnight.
- Place a large deep frying pan on the stove and heat to medium high.
- Pour the meat and marinade into the hot pan.
- Distribute the meat evenly in the pan.
- The marinade will reach a slow simmer. Let the meat (turn pieces occasionally) cook uncovered until the garlic and wine mixture has reduced substantially. This will take about 30 minutes.
- Once there's only a little bit of marinade at the bottom, add the oil.
- Fry the pieces of meat in the oil and remaining marinade until the edges look seared but not burnt.
- Transfer the pieces of pork to a serving dish.
- Scrape the browned bits of meat and flavoured oil and add over the pork.
I definitely have to make this Portuguese style pork.. that marinade sounds SO delicious!
Thank you. Yes, it’s pretty amazing! The kids just hung around the kitchen until it was done. Like some magnetic force was pulling them in 🙂 Take care.
Thank you Nelson for sharing the family’s favorite dish. It’s funny the girls mentioned the other day that they would love to have torresmos and inhames (yams). Now I get to surprise the girls…just hope it tastes as good yours.
Hi Ana, these are pretty flexible… A little less of this or a little more of that will work well. I’m sure it’ll turn out fantastic. I’m so happy to hear you’re going to try it. I hope they love it.
Inhames is not yam in english. It’s actually tarrow root. Thanks.
Love this recipe, I modified it slightly and use pork loin that I cubed and threaded on skewers after marinating, instead of frying I grilled it on the BBQ.
Hi Shane, thanks so much for sharing your feedback and tweak to the recipe. I’m always happy to hear other takes on food I make. You had me at BBQ 🙂 Take care and happy cooking!
I made the torresmos de vina dosh with some pork ribs from a wild hog.
I put the vina dosh and the frozen ribs in a crockpot turned it to high for 1 hr to med 1 hr and then low for 3 hrs pulled the bones out cut into small pieces stirred them around in the juices and it was just like mother use to make it was FANTASTIC.
Oh my… I was salivating reading your comment! That’s awesome and sounds delicious. Thanks so much for sharing Manuel.
My avo is from the same island, Pico, Azores… I believe this recipe, however very easy for the American cook is lacking a few key ingredients… namely malageta (the garlic chilli paste you substitute for the sweet chilli paste and lime), my grandmother also uses sour oranges instead of lime. Her torresmos are famous.I would highly recommend using the sour oranges and malageta if you can get your hands on it. Malageta can be made with whole red chillis, garlic and lemon juice all blended together with a sprinkle of salt.
Hi Jason, thanks so much for stopping by our blog and sharing your insights. We really do appreciate it. My mom also uses sour oranges (laranja azeda or limão tengerino) in Pico. These fruits are very hard to find in our region of Canada and some of the US. When my mom visited us in Canada, we experimented with other options, and lime juice was the closest substitute as far as we could tell. Also, our jarred red pimento paste comes quite close to the malagueta used in Pico. For our followers, if you happen to read Jason’s comments and have access to those ingredients, feel free to substitute. For those of you who don’t have access to those ingredients, the lime juice and red pimento paste will also give you very tasty results. Take care and thanks again for visiting.
Have you tried this marinade with chicken? I remember it from my childhood very well.
My problem now is I can’t eat pork or beef.
My grandparents were from the Azores, Faial.
Thanks
I am rating it a 5 stars even though i have not made it yet, reading it just got my brain smelling those great smells!
Hi Marianne, this marinade would work beautifully with chicken. Let us know if you try it. I went to school in Faial for for a few years. I love Horta! Happy cooking!
I grew up eating this dish too but lime juice is a new addition for me, can’t wait to try your version!
But why do you say this is unhealthy? It’s not, at all. Meat, acid, salt. There’s nothing unhealthy or calorie heavy here. It’s not even a lot of salt.
Hi Mona, I agree with you, but since many people relate pork to an unhealthy lifestyle, I thought I’d be transparent in my story. I want to be respectful of people’s life choices. The lime juice was a nice touch. I was also improvising because we don’t have easy access to “laranja azeda” or “limao tangerino”. All the best… happy cooking!
Eu nasci noFaial e agora vivo na Florida. Vim com seis anos para Connecticut em 1967 mais agora ja estou aqui na florida quase 15 anos. My mother makes these often, she’s going on 83. I have to say that every area adds their own special touches. They not only vary from one island to another but also from one “fruegsia” to another. My mother is from Salao in Faial. Hers vary a little from my father’s village of Cedros. So it’s hard for Americans to undwrstand this but i usually say it’s like being from New England cooking atmosphere and then moving to the south and tasting variations of same food with new and different flavors. Thanks for sharing and these are great with tarrow root and pão de milho or bolo do tejolo from Pico.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. These comments always make me miss the Azores. I know Faial well. I went to “Liceu” for high school. Also, some buddies and I had a band and played in Faial during the school year. We played both in both Salao and Cedros. You just brought back fantastic memories! Thank you.
The recipe I have been using from a relative from Santo Amaro, Pico calls for sour orange which hard to get. I guess the limes will suffice? I’ll try.
Hi Carl, sour oranges would be a better option, but unfortunately we can’t find any near us. The lime juice worked quite nicely though. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog. Let us know how it goes. Take care and happy cooking.
Growing up in Northern California as well as being of Portuguese heritage on my mother’s side, she made this often. My mother’s ingredients were garlic, bay leaves and red wine vinegar. Plus it would marinate for a couple of days – delicious!! It was also a staple at the local Portuguese festas where the pork cubes would be cooked over an open pit fire on a big skewer. For extra flavor branches of bay laurel tress (native to the area) would be thrown on the fire as well. I can smell it now!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us. I imagined your experience