When Celio Oliveras sits down to Christmas Eve dinner, he will eat one of the best-tasting pork dishes in town.
It is a piece of pork that has been marinated in a mix of garlicky spices then slowly roasted. This is a recipe that Oliveras got from his late mother, Caridad. His mother, a native of Puerto Rico, cooked the dish every Christmas season, a tradition that Oliveras continues.
This is also a dish plenty of Baltimore policemen have enjoyed. Oliveras spent 28 years on the Baltimore City police force working in the Western District, the vice squad, the youth section and community relations department. He retired in 1992.
While Oliveras was on the force, word of his culinary skill spread among his co-workers. That meant that when policemen were throwing a retirement party or celebrating a wedding, Oliveras would often end up cooking his pork dish for the event. Eventually news of the dish leaked to the world of civilian eaters. Soon folks who had never ridden in a police car were asking Oliveras to cook the pork for their parties.
I met the dish several years ago at a Christmas party given by some neighbors, Robert and Suzie Thieblot. I had it again last weekend. The party is a big event, with about 200 guests milling around the Thieblots' striking multilevel Bolton Hill home. I'm not sure how many floors the rowhouse has. Every year or so I discover another one. But I do know where Oliveras' pork is.
One piece always sits downstairs next to the fireplace. Another sits in the library on an upper floor. I make it a point to repeatedly compare and contrast the flavor of the upper and lower pieces of pork. This year both were in top form.
The other day I called up Oliveras to try to pry the secret recipe out of him. I told him I had tried cooking a Cuban roast pork (recipe below), and wondered if this recipe was similar to his. Oliveras was pleasant but tight-lipped. He was not about to give away his mother's recipe. He said he was thinking of changing his pork-cooking activities from their current casual nature to a full-time commercial operation. He encouraged me to go ahead and try the Cuban pork recipe. Other cooks, even restaurant chefs, have tried to replicate his pork, he said, and have not succeeded.
Which means that this Christmas there might be good will in the hearts of all, but the best pork in town will still be on Oliveras' table.
This is from Steven Raichlen's "Miami Spice" (Workman $13).
Cuban Roast Pork
Serves 10
1/2 fresh ham (pork leg, about 8 pounds)
MARINADE:
1 head of garlic, in cloves, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaf
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh sour orange juice or lime juice
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 large onions, thinly sliced
The day before you plan to serve the dish, trim extra fat off pork leg and, with a knife tip, make shallow slits all over the pork.
Mash the garlic, salt, oregano, cumin, pepper, bay leaf and olive oil to a paste in a mortar. Rub this mixture over roast, forcing it into the slits. Combine the sour orange juice (found in some Latin markets), juice, sherry and onions in a bowl.
Place roast in a large, heavy, plastic bag. Add juice mixture, moving the roast around so it all gets covered. Refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally.
The second day, heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove roast from bag, drain, and pat dry, saving the marinade. Place roast in lightly oiled heavy roasting pan, cook for 1 hour, turning once or twice to brown on all sides.
Reduce heat to 325. Pour marinade and onions over pork. Cover with tent made of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Continue roasting, basting from time to time with pan juices for about an hour until roast is almost cooked. Add water or sherry if pan dries out.
Uncover roast and continue cooking until internal temperature reads at least 150 degrees on meat thermometer, about 30 minutes more.
Let the roast stand for 10 minutes before carving.