Hornado
Hornado is the festive dish of central Ecuador's markets, especially in the towns of Latacunga and Machachi, where the vendors known as 'hornaderas' inherit the recipe from their mothers and grandmothers, often still cooking in clay ovens built by generations of the same family. The name comes from the Spanish word for oven, underscoring the central role of the slow-roasting method. On market days, especially Saturdays, whole browned pigs are displayed intact on the stalls, the head often keeping pride of place above the cut meat, a practice considered a mark of authenticity. Customers personally choose their preferred cut — crackling skin, lean meat, or soft fat — and the vendor slices the portion to order, serving it hot alongside llapingachos, mote, and a spicy tomato-onion salsa.
Whole marinated pig
A whole cleaned pig is marinated with garlic, cumin, and beer, absorbing intense flavor overnight.
Slow roasting in a clay oven
The meat roasts for hours in a traditional clay or brick oven over low heat, until the skin turns perfectly crisp.
Basted with warm lard
The skin is periodically brushed with melted lard mixed with tomato juice, ensuring an evenly golden, crackling crust.
Served with llapingachos
Traditionally served alongside cheese-stuffed potato patties (llapingachos), rounding out the plate with a soft, contrasting texture.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 2.5 kg pork leg, skin-on
- 8 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 250 ml beer
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
- 100 g melted lard
- 3 tomatoes, pureed
- 4 potatoes (for llapingachos)
- 150 g grated cheese (for llapingachos)
How to make it
- 1The crushed garlic is mixed with the cumin, beer, and coarse salt, forming an intense liquid marinade.
- 2The pork leg is rubbed thoroughly with the marinade all over the surface, working it into the cuts made in the skin for deeper penetration.
- 3The marinated meat is covered and refrigerated overnight, ideally twelve hours, to fully absorb the flavors.
- 4The next day, the meat is brought to room temperature an hour before cooking, then placed in a deep roasting pan.
- 5The melted lard is mixed with the pureed tomatoes, producing a mixture that's brushed generously over the pork skin.
- 6The meat roasts in the oven at medium-low heat for four to five hours, being basted with the lard-tomato mixture every hour for an even crust.
- 7In the final half hour, the temperature is raised to make the skin extremely crisp, watching constantly so it doesn't burn.
- 8While the meat rests, potatoes are boiled, mashed, and mixed with grated cheese, forming the llapingacho patties, which brown on the griddle and are served alongside the sliced pork.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
