How to Make Crispy Vinha D’Alhos
A Portuguese crispy pork dish served during the holidays.
Vinha D’Alhos (vee-nah dosh) is a Portuguese dish that is commonly served during the holidays. Similar to adobo, Vinha D’Alhos is pork marinated in vinegar and spices. In every household, the recipe will vary but I found that this recipe is very onolicious!
Traditional
Vinha D’Alhos graced Hawaii’s tables when the Portuguese came to the islands to work during the plantation era. Among the numerous traditions/cultures that the Portuguese brought, this dish is remembered being served during the holidays. The recipe can be traced back to Azores and Madeira. It is also known as Carne de vinha d’alhos. The name means ‘meat in garlic marinade.’
Tips
Vinha D’Alhos is an explosion of flavor. It is meat marinated in vinegar, wine, garlic, and seasonings. I found that the longer you let the meat marinate, the more flavors the meat will retain. Because the meat is being marinated in vinegar, it will prolong or reduce the expiration of the meat.
Keep an eye out when the meat is simmering in the pot as you wait for the liquid to reduce. You don’t want the liquids to reduce where the meat sticks to the bottom of the pot. If you struggle with this problem, I’d recommend using a non stick skillet to simmer and fry the meat. You will probably have to do it in batches if you don’t have a big enough skillet to carry all of the meat.
You could also reserve some of the liquids to use as a dipping sauce for the meat. You could also opt out of frying the meat if you’d like have your meat tender, but personally I like having the extra crisp 🙂
Crispy Vinha D’Alhos
Video
Ingredients
- 4 lb pork butt/shoulder
- 1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar substitute distilled vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Hawaiian chili peppers substitute red jalapeños or serrano peppers
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp Hawaiian salt
- 2 tbsp allspice
- 3 bay leaves
Instructions
- Cut the pork into 1 inch cubes or larger pieces. It will shrink once it is cooked. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Vinegar, water, chili peppers, garlic, Hawaiian salt, allspice, and bay leaves.
- Add all of the pork cubes and marinade to a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Seal and massage the meat to make sure all of the marinade covers the meat. Let it marinade in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Heat a large pot over medium heat and add all of the contents in the Ziploc bag. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer.
- Simmer until all of the liquids have evaporated. About An hour and twenty minutes. Remove pot from heat.
- Pan fry the meat on a nonstick skillet pan until all sides are crispy. About 30 seconds on each side. Serve immediately with a side of rice or sweet Portuguese bread. Enjoy!
Onolicious.
Mahalo!
My family are Portuguese from the Hawaiian plantations in Maui since about 1860s/70s. They were originally from Funchal, Portugal. Yes, this dish is traditional Portuguese, but the recipe and preparation are slightly different. This dish was always called “Vinga” for short; I am typing it phonetically, as we pronounced it….the full name (phonetically) was always “Vinga Doylez” to us. The only Portuguese speakers in my family were the original members who came from Portugal, and, if they were young, their future oldest children. As for the rest, there were individual Portuguese words sprinkled in their speech, and that is all the Portuguese the rest of us knew. When they had the first generation of children born on Maui, they encouraged them to speak English because they wanted their children to be “Americans”, even though Hawaii/Maui was a territory (not a State) from 1895 and a State from 1959 of the United States. When I was born on Maui in 1957, Hawaii was still a territory!
Anyway, the ingredients as I remember them were similar, with slight variations:
….Pork Butt (about 8 to 14 pounds, cut in 1-2” cubes. Ask a butcher at the grocery store where you buy it if they are willing to cut it in cubes for you…it will save you a lot of time)
….Apple Cider Vinegar (1 to 1-1/2 large bottles, depending on how much pork is used)
….Rock Salt (A couple/few handfuls, depending on the amount of pork used….Hawaiian rock salt, when you could get it….traditional rock salt, if you could not, such as after my family moved to CA)
….Bay Leaf (usually only 2 or so, broken in half)
….Cayenne Pepper Seeds (a handful or so, depending on how many lbs of pork used)
…..Fresh Garlic, pressed in a garlic press (about 6 to 10, depending on how many pounds of pork you use)
Keep in mind the pork will shrink a lot when cooked and how many people you will be making it for.
The meat must be kept in the refrigerator in either several gallon freezer bags or in a covered big bowl or roaster, and needs to be turned/mixed at least 2-3 times a day for at least 3 days and up to 5 days.
When ready to cook, lift pieces with a slotted spoon or tongs to not transfer too much liquid from the marinade. Use a large frying pan with oil, enough to brown all of the meat, and do not overcrowd the meat, or your meat will be boiling in too much liquid instead of frying/browning. Even so, the meat will put out a fair amount of liquid, so don’t fry too many pieces at once, and let the liquid evaporate from the meat before you begin turning the meat in order to brown all sides. As you get all sides brown, remove those pieces to an oven safe large dish/casserole, and add more pieces to the frying pan as needed, until all pieces have been browned on all sides. You will have to also add more oil, ocassionally, as needed, during the browning process.
Once all pieces have been browned and are in your oven proof casserole, add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of marinade liquid to the casserole, just enough to keep the meat from getting too dry. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for about an hour until all pieces have cooked through. You may add another 1/4 cup of marinade (or less) into the casserole dish and cover for the last 15 minutes, if you want.
That’s it! Meat should be reasonably tender and cooked inside. Serve with rice. Leftovers can be refrigerated and pan fried, and served with eggs or scrambled eggs for breakfast, or for dinner on future nights. The cooked product should last for 5 days to a week. I imagine you could also freeze it to use later, but after we divided what was left among ourselves and our guests, there was not much left over.
Hope this helps!
Joyce! Mahalo for such a beautiful history and the recipe 🙂
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.my family loved it.will be sharing this recipe with my friends.they will like it.
Glad it turned out well!
Mahalo plenty sistah.