Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew

Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew is a twist on the classic chicken dish made with yellow chili peppers called ají amarillo in Spanish. It’s spicy, rich, irresistible sauce makes it a favorite in our house. 

When I was growing up, my father worked/lived for many years in northern Peru so when school let out for the summer, I’d pack up and head south. While the little town didn’t have a lot to recommend it, it was an ideal place to be a free-ranging child with nothing but time on her hands! They were wonderful summers.

Daddy employed a cook named Cata who came in every morning to prepare our main meal which was served at midday. She was an older local woman who had years of experience cooking for her own family and made her living cooking for others.

One of her specialties was ají de gallina, a traditional Peruvian chicken stew served with white rice and garnished with hard-boiled eggs and black olives. It was always a good day when that was for lunch! A bad day included sweet stewed beets.

I hadn’t thought about Cata or her ají de gallina for years, when a great neighbor gave me a couple of chili pepper plants, one growing the bright yellow peppers I’d need to make it! We had been eating a lot of chicken at the time so I decided to make a variation on the classic recipe using pork instead. It was an excellent decision!

Ají de Cerdo – Peruvian Pork Stew

If you don’t have white sandwich bread, unsalted crackers or fresh breadcrumbs can be substituted. This dish calls for a specific yellow South American chili pepper. If you live in a big city then you may be able to find these in your supermarket or, failing that, you can find yellow ají paste in a jar online. Search for Inca’s Food which is a reliable brand.

Ingredients

4 slices white bread, about 3 1/2 oz or 100g

1 can (1 1/2 cups or 355ml) evaporated milk or light cream

2.2 lbs or 1 kg pork shoulder, cubed

2 tablespoons white vinegar

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

4 cups or 960ml pork or chicken stock, or more as needed

4-5 yellow ají (yellow chili peppers – see note above ingredient list)

1 large onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 oz or 28g cotija or Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup or 30g pecans

To serve:

Boiled potatoes

Cooked rice

Garnish:

Hard-boiled eggs

Black olives

Method

Soak the bread in the evaporated milk or cream till it softens and gets mushy.

Season the pork shoulder chunks with the white vinegar and a good sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.

In a large pan, heat a splash of olive oil and fry the pork in batches until the pieces are nicely brown, removing each batch to a big plate when it’s done. 

If you can’t eat too spicy, remove the seeds from the chili peppers and mince. If you love spice like we do, leave them in.

In the now empty pork pan, add another drizzle of olive oil and fry the onion, garlic and chili peppers until soft. 

Scrape them into your blender jug or a measuring vessel for a hand blender.

Add the pork back into your once again empty pan and add in the stock. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, about 1 hour or until the pork is tender. 

Add your bread mix to the onions, garlic and peppers in the blender, along with the cheese and pecans.

Blend until smooth. 

When the pork pieces are tender, add the smooth blender ingredients to the pork pan, adding more stock as needed to make a thick sauce. 

Simmer for 30 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally and adding more stock as needed.

Serve with the rice and potatoes. Decorate with a hardboiled egg half or quarter and a couple of black olives for each plate.

Enjoy! 

This is our third year to work our way through the alphabet sharing recipes with ingredients or title featuring the letter of the post so welcome to the 1st edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter A. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the A recipes below:

• Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew from Food Lust People Love
• Aloo Bhaji & Poori from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Amygdalopita from A Messy Kitchen
• Anday Aur Subzi Pulao from Sneha’s Recipe
• Apple Crumb Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Apple Pork Chops from Blogghetti
• Arancini from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Argentine-Style Burgers with Chimichurri Sauce from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Artichoke Spinach Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Atchara: A Pickle from My People…and My Grandmother from Culinary Cam
• Homemade Apple & Whiskey Barbecue Sauce from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Magic Pan Orange and Almond Salad from Palatable Pastime

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Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage

Goetta aka Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage is made with steel-cut oats, beef, pork and lots of spices. It’s a delicious accompaniment to eggs and toast in the morning. Or as a sandwich filling for lunch.

I must confess that while I have driven to, and flown out of Cincinnati, I haven’t actually spent any time there. We were on our way home from a wedding in Ohio and just passing through. 

That is to tell you that I have no prior personal knowledge of the goodness of goetta, a sausage of German-American origin that is often called Cincinnati’s signature dish. I found it in a search online for something savory I could make with steel-cut oats! If the internet can be believed, it is pronounced gettah, like the O isn’t there. 

There are many classic recipes for goetta but most include beef and pork, along with a variety of spices. I cobbled this one together from a few different ones because I didn’t need to feed a crowd! I used the little loaf pans because they freeze well and a big bread pan won’t fit in my freezer. Also, with only two of us at home, I could take one out, slice and fry, leaving two more to freeze for later, which is exactly what I did.

Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage

This recipe makes three small loaf pans, 1 lb each. You can also make it in one normal bread pan, if you prefer. 

Ingredients 

2 cups or 480ml beef stock

2 cups or 480ml water

1 teaspoon fine sea salt (adjust to taste, depending on your stock)

1 1/4 cups or 170g steel-cut oats (also known as pinhead oats)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried marjoram, divided

8 oz or 225g ground beef

8 oz or 225g ground pork (or sausage)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Method

Place the broth, water, salt, oats, bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of the dried marjoram in a large pot. Stir for a minute or two so the salt will dissolve.

Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover, and gently simmer for 60-75 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oats are soft and the liquid is absorbed. Discard the bay leaves. 

If you have one, I recommend using a diffuser under the pot to help the heat be distributed more evenly so the thickening oatmeal doesn't catch. This is mine.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine the raw ground beef, ground pork or sausage, onion, garlic and spices.

When the oats are ready, by which I mean they are fully cooked and no longer wet, add the meat mixture in three batches to the pot and stir well to combine after each addition. 

You can add it in all at once but that does make it more challenging to combine well. This is with addition number 3, the final one. 

Heat through until it starts to slightly bubble then reduce to low, cover and cook for another hour, stirring occasionally. Again, the diffuser comes in handy here. The mixture will get quite loose and watery for a while as the onion cooks down and releases its juice

 

If the liquid has not all been absorbed after the hour with the lid on, remove the lid and continue to cook uncovered, stirring often until the mixture has thickened so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. 

Pour and press the mixture into 1 regular loaf pan or 3 small loaf pans, greased, and let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Each of mine were 1 lb or 450g.

When ready to serve, slice the goetta into 1/2-inch or 1 cm thick pieces in the loaf pan. 

Remove the slices carefully as needed and fry in a DRY nonstick skillet. 

Do not overcrowd the pan because you need ample room to turn them over carefully when that time comes. Allow the goetta slices to brown completely before attempting to turn them. This may not guarantee that they won’t crumble but it helps! 

Once browned on both sides, you can turn them again to get a deeper brown on each side.

Repeat the process until all the goetta you need is brown. Serve with eggs for breakfast or as a sandwich filling. Wrap well and freeze any unused loaf pans for later. 

Enjoy!  

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes made with oats in celebration of National Oatmeal Month. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the oat-y links below.

• Almond Meal Muffins with Oats and Honey from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Cranachan Trifle from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage from Food Lust People Love
• High Protein Scottish Porridge Oats from Palatable Pastime
• Maple Pecan Oatmeal Scones from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mini Oat Pancakes With Guacamole Topping from Sneha's Recipe
• Mud Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Oatmeal Banana Quick Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Orange Cranberry Baked Oatmeal from Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Caramelized Pear Gingerbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

With buttery pears and aromatic rich ginger batter, these caramelized pear gingerbread muffins make a lovely breakfast or snack for the holiday season. 

After some soul searching and then consulting with the other members of my Muffin Monday baking group, this post will be my last official Muffin Monday one. That doesn’t mean that I won’t occasionally share a muffin recipe though. I love creating and baking them far too much to give it up entirely. 

I had to go back and count the Muffin Mondays I’ve shared a post for from way back in June of 2012, for a total of 264 muffin recipes! (One a week for three years then one a month since 2015.) Not to mention the links on my posts to fellow bakers’ recipes. It’s a treasure trove of options! See them all here.

But since this is the last official post, I decided that something out of the ordinary was warranted. Something rich and decadent, yet easy to achieve. And definitely a muffin that fit the season. No partridge but a pear and gingerbread! 

Caramelized Pear Gingerbread Muffins

If you don’t have a suitable pear, these would be lovely with an apple caramelized and added in the same manner. 

Ingredients

For the caramelized pear:

1 ripe but firm pear

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar

For the muffin batter:

2 1/4 cups or 280g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup or 120g butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup or 120ml molasses or treacle

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

 

Method

Peel, core and cut your pear into thick slices.

In a nonstick skillet over a medium high heat, brown the pears in the butter, turning them over in the pan to color both sides. 

Add in the brown sugar and cook for a few minutes, until the sugar melts and bubbles and coats the pear. 

Remove from the heat and leave to cool. 

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing with butter or non-stick spray or lining it with paper muffin cups.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Cut the caramelized pear into pieces and set aside 12 pieces for topping. Mix the bigger pile into the flour and toss gently to coat. 

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, molasses and milk.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.  Top each with a piece of the reserved pear.

Bake in your preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s time for Muffin Monday. I am so grateful to my fellow bakers for sticking with me all these years. Please check out the links below and go show them some love!

• Banana Buttermilk Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Blueberry Streusel Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Caramelized Pear Gingerbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Cardamom Cinnamon Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cassava Flour Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Maple French Toast Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Wheaties Muffins from Palatable Pastime

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who have gotten together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page. 

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