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São Miguel-Style Braised Pork with Liver Sauce (Torresmos)
São Miguel-style torresmos with liver sauce, a pig-slaughter dish: pork marinated overnight in wine and garlic, then slowly cooked with pork liver.
- 8 servings
- 30 min
- 2h
- 12h
- Medium
Torresmos with liver sauce belong to the traditional pig slaughter: they were cooked and eaten on the very day the pig was butchered. The pork spends the night in a wine-and-garlic marinade (vinha-d'alhos) and then cooks slowly in the fat it releases; the liver goes in at the end and gives body to the sauce.
The recipe changes from island to island and from house to house. This is the São Miguel version, eaten piping hot with yam or sweet potato.
Method
Cut the pork into large pieces, cutting the fattier parts smaller.
In a mortar, crush the garlic with coarse salt and the pepper paste to a paste. Stir in the vinegar and the white wine, keeping a little of the wine back for the liver.
Coat the meat thoroughly in this marinade, cover and refrigerate until the next day.
Cut the liver into thick slices and season it separately with a little salt, pepper and the reserved wine. Refrigerate it as well.
The next day, put the bay leaf, peppercorns and cloves in the bottom of a wide pot and spread the fattiest pieces on top. Place over a medium heat.
When the fat starts to bubble, add the rest of the meat with its marinade (and the paprika, if using) and cook, stirring often, until the liquid has reduced and the torresmos begin to brown.
Add the liver with its seasoning and simmer over low heat, stirring now and then, until the liver is cooked through.
Skim off some of the fat from the surface and serve the torresmos piping hot, with boiled yam or sweet potato.
Tips
- Choose cuts with some fat, such as spare ribs and streaky pork belly: that fat is what the torresmos cook in.
- Without pimenta da terra paste, use a red chilli paste or ground red pepper; some cooks also add a teaspoon of sweet paprika.
- In the past, leftovers were kept covered in their own fat. Today, store them in a sealed container in the fridge and eat within a few days.
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