Hemingway Experience Recipes

Eat and Drink Like Papa

A hearty Cuban roast pork dinner and Hemingway's own Papa Doble, the grapefruit daiquiri that made him a legend at the bar.

Recipes From the Hemingway Experience

Cuban Roast Pork Dinner

Main Dinner

Ingredients

Roast Pork

Citrus garlic marinade (Mojo):

  • 3 cups of Goya Mojo
  • OR 3 cups of liquid from sour oranges
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • 2 heads of garlic, chopped finely
  • 3 tablespoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon black pepper
  • Put aside 2 onions cut into rings
Pork
  • 6 to 8 pounds boneless pork shoulder butt (blade roast)
White Rice
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, smashed
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
Black Beans (1 can)
  • 1/4 green pepper chunk
  • 1/4 onion chunk
  • garlic salt
  • ketchup
Plantains
  • 3 black plantains

Directions

  1. Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
  2. Strain marinade. Put liquid into two bowls. Mix what was strained into one bowl. Use the second bowl for the flavor injector. Pierce the pork with the tip of the needle, and inject it into the flesh. Do this all over the meat until the strained marinade has been used up.
  3. Place the marinated pork in a deep bowl or container. Generously season the outside of the pork with salt and pour the remaining marinade all over it, spreading the onion rings all over the top.
  4. Cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Prepare to cook: preheat oven to 325 degrees with rack in lower-middle position.
  5. Remove the pork from the marinade and place it on a platter. Transfer the marinade to a saucepan, add the onions, and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool down. Place the boiled marinade and onions in a blender and puree until smooth. The marinade is now ready to use as a basting liquid.
  6. Place pork with skin side down on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan with rack. Cook, uncovered, 3 hours, basting as needed. Then flip roast skin side up and continue to cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 190 degrees, about 3 hours more, lightly tenting roast with foil if skin begins to get too dark.
  7. Transfer roast to a cutting board and let rest 1 hour. To carve, first remove skin in one large piece. Scrape off and discard top layer of fat, then cut pork away from bone in 3 or 4 large pieces. Slice each piece against the grain into 1/4-inch slices. To serve skin, scrape excess fat from underside and cut into strips. Serve.
  8. Pour 1 can of black beans into a saucepan. Fill the can with water and scrape inside, then pour into the saucepan. Add onion and pepper chunks, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and a small squirt of ketchup. Heat and serve.
  9. In a separate sauce pan, make the rice. Heat a tbsp oil and add the garlic over moderate heat. Cook until the garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Add the water and salt to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and return to a boil. Cover and simmer over very low heat until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Let stand off the heat for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and serve.
  10. Peel black plantains and cut in half-inch slants, fry in deep oil until dark golden brown. (Goya also sells them in the freezer section.)

Papa Doble

Cocktail

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz Papa's Pilar Blonde Rum
  • .75 oz fresh lime juice
  • .5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 tsp maraschino liqueur

Directions

Combine all ingredients and shake. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel. Enjoy!

Taste It on the Tour

Follow Hemingway's footsteps through Key West and taste the stops for yourself.

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