Noche Buena, Part Three

Let them eat!!!

Finally it was time to eat dinner! There was laughing, dancing, queueing, and I’m pretty sure someone cried.

Feeding and sitting fourty+ people is no easy matter. It took a good half hour for everyone to get situated. For dinner we had the two lechones, two types of frijoles, yuca, and so much rice… Dessert was a yummy mix of coconut brittle, Christmas tree cake, rum cake, flan, and bunuelos (MMMMM!!!!). By the time 10PM rolled around, we were all ready to collapse into a food coma.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner was followed by a rousing game of White Elephant.

Then we had a surprise visit from Santa.

The evening was a great success and everyone made it safely home by midnight, giving Santa plenty of time to get back to business and deliver all his presents.

Noche Buena, Part 2

The Cooking of the Pigs
Roasting a pig (or lechon) to perfection is a long process that begins with picking out the right one. This year, I went with Duly and Tio Fran way out into the boonies of Miami and we picked out the perfect one. I have no idea where the Rodriguez clan found theirs.

This is not her, but is representative in size.

The piggy came to us frozen, so we needed to thaw and then season her to perfection.

On Noche Buena, the pig is then placed into the cooking device of your choice. This year, there was an argument of whether the caja china was better than the hueco, so we did one in each. With the caja china, the pig is placed inside of a box and the coals and laid in the lid. With the hueco, the coals are placed on the ground and the pig is suspended over them, and covered with metal siding to keep the heat in.






After a few hours, you need to turn the pig so the skin is evenly cooked on both sides.

Tio Fran and Duly flip the pig

Once you flip the pig, cook it for an hour. Then check it every ten minutes until the skin is nice and crispy.








After the pig is nicely roasted, it is time to bring it in and take it out of the rack. People flock like raptors to get the choice pieces of skin (the best part!) and ribs.

Nati gives us a breakdown of what goes into cooking the pig

Tio Fran and Duly bring the pig into the madness

When everyone is satisfied with their share of the skin, the pig is carved up and then it’s time to eat!

Noche Buena 2011, part 1

The original plan last night was to live blog the whole event. However, the iPad technology was not quite up to snuff so I’ve deleted all the posts and decided to start anew.
The day began with an absolutely mad trip to Publix. I was seriously about to start drop kicking the families that decided it was absolutely necessary to bring ALL of their kids, spouses, in-laws, AND cousins to the store. YOU DO NOT NEED TEN PEOPLE TO DO THE SHOPPING!!!!!

I then called my little helper elf (the one with opposable thumbs) for an afternoon of baking!

We made apple pie muffins, pumpkin bread, cranberry bars, and coquito.

 

Meanwhile, at my aunt’s house, the party was beginning to come together.
 

On the left is La Caja China. On the right is El Hueco. The competition is going to be fierce, but only one lechon can win!

Forty pounds live weight of pure yumminess!