Ibérico Pork Secreto: A Special Spanish Cut

LET’S GO

PREPARATION

In this recipe, Otto shows you the most delicious and tender secret of the Iberian pig: the Iberico Pork Secreto. It is so mysterious, as the fibrous and fan-shaped muscle of the Spanish Iberico pig (Cerdo Ibérico) lies hidden between the back and back fat. If the butcher doesn’t cut it correctly, the cut is hardly recognizable which is why it gets its name Secreto. Of all the meat cuts of the Iberian pig, this is the fattiest one and has a super intense taste. The strong marbling of the meat makes it perfect for cooking on the Otto Grill for delicious taste. Below we show you how to best prepare the Iberico Secreto.

1. Prepare the Pork Secreto

   Remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow it to reach room temperature before grilling. If you have too much fat in some places, you can remove it, but always keep in mind: fat = flavor.

2. Homemade Herb Sauce

   First, prepare the herbal ginger sauce so that it can infuse flavor while you grill. The sauce goes perfectly with Ibérico pork with a fresh herbal note.
   If you choose to use whole peppercorns, it’s best to grind them in a mortar first because later on it will be more difficult to crush the grains with the other ingredients. Then, chop the garlic, ginger and chilli as well as the fresh coriander and parsley as fine as possible and add them to the mortar. Now, gently crush the herb spice mixture with the pestle for a few minutes and gradually add oil and lemon juice. When choosing olive oil, quality is desired and not all olive oils are the same. It’s best to use a mild oil labeled as high quality and as “extra virgin olive oil” to avoid any bitter taste. Then, continue to grind until the flavors of the fresh herbs and spices have combined perfectly with the oil to form a creamy mass. Finally, salt according to taste and put the sauce aside for later.

3. Thai Mango Salad

   To prepare the Thai mango salad, peel the carrots, cucumber and mango before cutting them into thin slices. For this recipe, we advise to remove the core of the cucumber beforehand. Then, lightly crush the garlic and peppercorns in a mortar. Add carrot slices and continue pounding with the pestle to make the carrot fibers more tender. Now, add brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and mix everything together. Add mango and cucumber slices. Crush everything lightly and mix together making sure that you do not exert too much pressure to preserve the crunchiness of the cucumber and mango.
   Finish it off by putting the salad into a bowl. Halve the cherry tomatoes and roughly chop the fresh coriander. Stir in the tomato halves, coriander and peanuts to complete your delicious summer salad!

GRILLING

1. Grill Ibérico Secreto

   Now, it’s time for the main step of our recipe: grilling the Ibérico Pork Secreto. First, preheat the Otto Grill to 1500°F for 3 minutes. Make sure to take the grill grate out of the grill while preheating so that your steaks don’t pre-cook on the hot bars.
   As soon as the Otto Grill is hot, set the Meat-O-Meter to level 3. Grill the Pork Secreto on both sides for about 60 seconds – make sure to pay close attention to your grill because the Secreto is a very thin cut and could burn easily. Afterwards, let your steak rest a bit at the bottom of your grill.

SERVING

1. Serve & Enjoy Your Pork Steak

   Now, remove the steak and cut it across the grain. Sprinkle the Secreto with a few salt flakes and serve with the herb sauce and the mango salad.

You want more pork recipes? Here you go:

Pork Belly Bun
Grilled Iberico Pork Chops