Lamb Chuletas - Kosher Halal Puerto Rican Food

Lamb Chuletas

Growing up in a platanos & collard greens household, in a diverse neighborhood in the mostly densely populated state in the US no less, I have always been a fan of making the most out of ingredients. As Thom Yorke taught me by way of my 8th grade front-court-mate Chris, 2 and 2 always makes a 5 when you’re doing it right.

Living in Brooklyn, I’ve encountered the my namesake’s sister monotheistic religions more frequently than California, which I would describe as a spiritual blend of WASP, Catholic and Anarchist. I’ve gone on kosher-ish dates, had Rastafarian-influenced family describe avoiding chorizo as “eating clean”, and had cousins over for dinner with whom I

I often find myself sazon-izing any meal I prepare on my own. My affinity for cilantro, oregano-or-albahaca, garlic, onion, fresh ground pepper, and most green herbs I can get my hands on, tend to complete marinades before I ever begin. Food, like any other creative endeavor, can help us remember or reinvent fond smells, tastes and textures of a particular time or place.

One weekend while home in Jersey, I found my family griping audibly about a decidedly solvable issue, as is our custom. In this case, we wanted the recipe for pasteles, which my Mom loves, brother enjoys, self mehs, and Dad would never deign to complain about. Certain flavors of a good Christmas pastel speak to me, but the mushy masa always seemed superfluous.

Anyhow, this rare late Saturday when the gang of us are all home - a collective 18 years of my brother’s and my adolescence were sacrificed to elite prep schools and universities - we search Youtube on our new smart TV for the recipe. An “abuela” confirms what most of us know in painstaking detail - that making pasteles is a pain in the rumpus. The narrator’s dive into his grandmother’s recipe and ingredients thereof lead to heightened emotions - the insistance on ajicitos rather than identical-looking-jamaican-hot-peppers, good; the logical comparison to Mexican tamales swapping a masa of corn for plantain/green banana; blasphemous. Pride & stewardship over one’s culture can foster a protective intransigence, especially when your heirs appear indifferent to appropriation.

Super cute video with a nasally narrator & lovely abuelitic cackle.

The room felt neither disappointment nor satisfaction, but I received a personal joint thinking of all the ingredients I could cherry-pick from the video. One of the marvelous things about my childhood neighborhood in NJ is the diversity, a soup of sights and sounds that sprung the Fugees, SZA, Zach Braff and Michael B into the world among others. woke up Sunday excited the local supermarket

Oil

similar to that made in PR pasteles https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019082-puerto-rican-pasteles

• olive oil

• achiote a.k.a. annuto seed

• ajicitos (identical looking to jamaican/jerk peppers and habañero peppers but sweeter than spicy, because life is fun)

• spec of chili oil & saffron to taste/reddening

Lamb/Pork Chop Rub

let marinate for long as you can, but good just before cooking too

• chopped cilantro

• chopped green onion

• chopped culantro (also from pastel recipe; less common herb)

• ground black pepper

• ground sea salt or adobo (I'm not heavy with these because life is short enough)

• chopped garlic or garlic powder

Cooking

1. Drain the oil of the achiote seeds and ajicitos (also from pastel recipe); then throw in the Chops (picture 1)

2. Toss oven-safe pan with cover on in 450 oven ~20 depending on how done you want your chops; lamb/pork chops are fatty enough to not dry out

3. remove from oven and finish in pan on stove or remove cover and broil for 5 min

Eat

1. Use spatula to plate keeping some oil and much greens/herbs as possible on the meat

2. Plate with some fresh greens or salad and if you want some rice to absorb all the above (pic 2)