ORLANDO, Fla. – For Hispanic Heritage Month, Trooper Steve Montiero wanted to explore a little bit of his Puerto Rican heritage by taking us all along as he cooked his favorite meal, pernil and arroz con gandules, with his mom.
While cooking with Maureen Campana, aka Trooper Mom, she had some great pro tips, so we figured we’d share them with our News 6 Insiders.
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Here they are:
1. Sofrito is a seasoning mix used in a lot of Hispanic cooking. It’s a mix of finely chopped onions, peppers, garlic and herbs, like cilantro, all in olive oil. Some also include tomatoes. If you buy it fresh or make your own fresh, Trooper Mom’s tip is to dish it out into ice cube trays and keep it frozen-- that way you keep fresh ingredients fresh. Then when you need it, you just pop a cube or two in the pot or pan and you’re ready to go.
2. Trooper Mom said you have to use lots of fresh garlic whenever possible. Her favorite is Elephant garlic, like this one.
3. When cooking something like a pernil, which is a pork shoulder, or other large piece of meat, don’t just pour your seasoning over it. Trooper Mom stabs the meat repeatedly with a kitchen knife to give your marinade, or sofrito, a way to get all the way soaked into the meat for the perfect serious flavor.
4. When you’re making your arroz con gandules (rice with beans), make sure you save the liquid in the can when you drain the beans. That becomes the perfect liquid to add to the pot to cook your rice in with built-in flavor. You can use this concept with other canned goods in other dishes.
5. You can add a bit of extra flavor to your arroz con gandules if you add little pieces of the pig skin to cook up in the beans, sofrito and seasonings before you add the rice. If you don’t use it all, you can freeze that for next time, too.
6. Just like when you make a turkey or other roast, save the drippings in the pernil pan to use as a gravy or sauce for your dish.
Happy cooking! And eating!!!
