The centerpiece of every Cuban Christmas celebration is a Christmas pig. This is one family tradition that has remained intact every year for my entire lifetime. Throughout my childhood and later as a young adult, I have vivid holiday memories of preparing a whole pig roast with my beloved father.
Nochebuena
Cubans, along with many other Latin communities, celebrate this most special holiday on Christmas eve (December 24). Nochebuena, which translates to “the good night,” has its roots in Catholicism and is celebration of joy as we await the birth of Christ. The Nochebuena celebration is the largest gathering of the year for our family. This year, we had 47 gathered to await the coming of baby Jesus.
As the most important celebration of the year, the family works to prepare many of our typical dishes along with many dishes adopted from our new home country. But at the center of the feast is always a whole roasted pig – lechon asado.
Acquiring The Pig
My oldest memories from the 1970’s involve going to a local pig farmer to select our pig. After making our selection, the pig would be dispatched, cleaned and dressed. Today, whole pigs are available from most major supermarkets in South Florida. One year, we purchased the pig from Publix.
The last few years, we’ve purchased our pig from a local pig farm (Matadero Cabrera – Mary’s Ranch) that has modernized and streamlined the process. We just order our pig online and it is picked up from their warehouse on the 23rd of December – it comes fresh frozen in a box.
Defrosting the Pig
Since the pig is frozen, it will need to be thawed in a manner the safeguards the meat and properly dries the skin for optimum cooking and crispiness. I’m sure there are many different ways to do this – each family with their own variation – but here is what we do after many years of trial and error.
Preferably, the pig would be defrosted in a walk-in cooler, but we don’t have that option. Alternatively, we hang the pig in the coolest room in the house with the thermostat set as low as possible. We place a cooler under the pig to catch the water and residual blood as the pig thaws. And most importantly, we point a fan at the skin side of the pig to keep it as cool as possible while drying out the skin.
One of the most coveted parts of a pig roast is the crunchy skin – the pork rind. The secret to a crispy pork rind is to thoroughly dry the skin before cooking. At this point we also rub and coat the skin side of the pig with handfuls of sea salt. The salt will draw out the moisture and facilitate the drying of the skin.
All this is done on the evening of the 23rd, the night before the pig is to be roasted.
Prepping the Pig for Roasting
You will need approximately an hour to prep the pig for roasting. The pig will be roasted in a pig box called a Caja China – or China Box. In order to cook the pig in the box, it needs to be butterflied – kinda like spread eagle. So, Step 1 is to cut the backbone to allow you to spread and flatten the rib cage. We use a heavy clever and hammer for this purpose.
Step 2, once the pig is spread eagle, turn it skin side up and thoroughly scrub the skin with dry paper towels to remove the salt applied the night before. After removing all the caked on salt, we puncture the skin with roller tool designed to make little pinholes throughout the skin. These pinholes will allow additional moisture to escape during the cooking process. Lastly, we season the skin again with one last layer of fresh sea salt.
Step 3, is to marinate the pig. This is done by injecting the meat with mojo and inserting cloves of garlic into the meat. Mojo is a tangy citrus marinade made from the juice of sour oranges, garlic, olive oil, and spices like oregano and cumin. We also season the ribcage with additional salt and cumin.
Step 4 is to secure the pig to a metal frame that will hold the pig together while cooking and facilitate the turning of the pig. The Caja China comes with a frame for this purpose.
And that’s it, you are ready to cook.
Cooking the Pig
The Caja China makes cooking the pig as foolproof as possible. They provide a table of cooking times and when to add charcoal, when to turn the pig – all based on the size of your pig. Below is their cooking chart which I transcribed. From start to finish, it took 4 hours for our 45 lb. pig. One important note: do NOT open the box after the cooking has started.
We also added some aluminum pans at the bottom of the pig box to collect the drippings during cooking. These pans will make cleanup much easier and we then use some of the drippings to serve with the meat.
When the pig is done, we let it rest for 15 minutes. First, the skin is removed and cut using kitchen shears, and set aside. Then, we use heat resistant gloves to pull and debone all the meat. The meat is placed in one of the aluminum pans with some of the drippings. The drippings will add a ton flavor from the mojo and keep the meat super moist and delicious.
Yes, this seems like a big project, but the Caja China has really made this approachable to anyone willing to give a try. And the results are fantastic.