Coming up next...
I've nosed around for a village in Puerto Rico that specializes in cooking one thing
and one thing only.
You join me for lunch?
I'll foot the bill.
And later, why are people lining up for a teeny, tiny, transparent fish?
This is insane.
Tourism may be the number one industry in Puerto Rico,
but thanks to my friend and guide Chef Maira Morales,
I'm just 45 minutes from San Juan, entering a 100% no-gringo zone.
We're in the mountains of south central Puerto Rico, driving on PR-184,
better known as the "Pork Highway".
We're going to the Guavate region in the hills of Cayey,
which specializes in just one thing
pork, with over a dozen restaurants to choose from.
We like pork.
This is without a doubt, one of the best places, and I can say in the world, not just in Puerto
Rico
Oh my God
This happens to be one of my favorite places worldwide.
This is pig heaven.
It is.
An entire town devoted to cooking roasted pig.
Isn't that beautiful, isn't God perfect?
Spanish settlers first brought the pig to this island and Guavate got it's start as
pig paradise
when one roadside shack endeavouring to feed passing truckers was so successful that more
lechoneras sprang up
making the weekend gathering place for local families to eat and dance the day away.
The first Lechonera on the street, and I'm told still the best "El Rancho Original".
The ears and tail for him.
You're going to have the tail and the ears.
That's great.
These Lechoneras roast whole suckling pigs over an open flame for hours.
When it's done, they cut it up with a machete, or huge knife so it's a great way to try all
the parts of a pig.
Look at that!
Slow-roasted so it just falls apart like butter.
You actually don't even need a fork,
you can just stick your face into it.
All of this little breast meat and fatty fabulousness, that's gotta' be my first bite.
There we go.
When you told me this was the best place to get pig,
you said it was the best place in Puerto Rico.
It's one of my favorites, no doubt.
I've eaten this stuff all over the world, I'm telling you right now
that little bite of pork that I had there is the best pork that I've eaten in my life.
Ha! ha! Yes!
That is insane.
Now, obviously when the guy takes that cleaver, that machete and he's hacking up all the different
parts,
you get all kinds of different pieces of the breast, the thigh, the leg,
And here's that wonderful piece of the belly, with the skin and just the barest amount of
meat and a lot of fat.
That is absolutely beautiful,
and tasty.
This is pig heaven.
Then there are the often overlooked morcels that are simply the best parts of the animal.
That's your department, I'll let you have all of it.
Look at that, what freaks me out a little bit
yeah?
It's that I buy these at the local pet store also
For your dog
and my dog loves them.
The skin here is so thick.
Oh wow.
That was...
Mmm, wow that guy could've used a q-tip or two.
I'm not eating any of it.
Wow that's fantastic.
Good.
You enjoy that.
That's a nice pig's ear.
Most of the time the ear's burnt,
but you can see the nose the tail are still just the same color as the rest of the it.
It's gorgeous, they really know what they're doing here.
Equally tasty and rightly appreciated here in Puerto Rico, the pig's tail.
You just kind of gnaw on the end of it.
Yes.
Wow.
That's big prize, because you only have one tail.
Right!
So that's *the* one piece that everyone wants.
But each part of the animal has it's own unique flavor.
It's a front leg. That is a beautiful specimen right there.
Oh, the meat on this part of the animal is so rich, and so melting, and so much more
go ahead you take it.
intensely porky than any other place on the pig,
I mean people who don't eat the shanks are really missing out on incredible, incredible
pork goodness.
Oh my God.
Do you like the toenails?
No, you go ahead and have those.
It's gross, nobody eats those, I was just kidding.
I was just trying to get you to try one.
No!
I'm enjoying every part of this pig, toe to snout.
You go ahead and have that part.
A pig roots around with it's nose, so it has this meat, these muscles that are in it that
are just...
I don't know, it's yummy food.
Just because of you.
Grab that one.
That is...
Careful, it's a tooth.
Here, it's just these little strips.
That's actually very good.
I'm telling you!
This is the first time I have it.
All the meat from the face has different flavors and textures,
It does.
Depending on how much skin is covering it, how much the muscle works.
That is very earthy stuff.
It has to have the hair on it.
If it doesn't have the hair on it, something's wrong.
This is the quintessential pig meal.
That's why we're known for it.
Why you think we have an whole town devoted to pig?
That's a really good point.
In typical Puertorican fashion, food is followed by festivity,
and it's time to work off a little bit of our meal.