Brasa Brazil

Pururuca is the skin on a pork roast that dries, then pops into a blistered crust. It is a country (caipira) technique from Minas, São Paulo, and Paraná, used on pork leg (pernil), pork shoulder (paleta), pork belly (panceta), or a small pig. It is not a bowl of fried cubes. That is torresmo.

Safety instructions

Cook pork to 145°F (63°C) and rest 3 minutes. A butcher or named packer is the better source. Ground pork stays 160°F (71°C).

At a glance

• Skin-on pork roast. Wet skin will not pop.
• Cook skin up about 40 cm (16 in) from the embers until the meat is nearly done
• Finish skin down about 20 cm (8 in) until the skin crackles
• Pork is ready around 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part, then rest

The skin

Buy the cut with the skin on. Ask a US butcher for a skin-on pork roast: picnic shoulder, skin-on pork belly, or a skin-on pork leg. Latin butchers often have the skin left on. Score or prick the skin down to the fat, not into the meat. Salt the skin and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight so it dries. Wet skin will not pop.

Method

1. Score or prick the dry skin down to the fat. Salt the meat side as for other pork (garlic and lime if you want). Keep a wet marinade off the skin.
2. Light a two-zone fire with lump charcoal (100% wood lump), not briquettes. Embers, not flames.
3. Cook skin up, well above the embers, about 40 cm (16 in), until the meat is nearly done. Check the thickest part with an instant-read thermometer.
4. For the crust, drop the roast skin down over a hotter bed, about 20 cm (8 in), for a few minutes until the skin crackles. Listen for the pops. Pull it before the skin burns.
5. Rest, then slice.

How you know it is done

The meat is around 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part, then rest. The skin is blistered and dry, not black. The other finish is a thin stream of very hot oil poured over the dried skin. It works and it is dangerous. The grate method is the safer home finish. If you pour oil, do it off the fire, on a rack, with a long-handled ladle, and keep water away from the pot.

Next cooks

• Torresmo
• Pork ribs (costelinha)
• Pork loin on the churrasco