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Street Stall · Mashed Plantain & Smoked Pork

Tacacho con Cecina

Tacacho con Cecina — street food from Loreto, Peru
Photo: Dtarazona / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The plantains are roasted over open coals first and then mashed with rendered pork fat using a wooden tool, a technique developed for the humid Amazon climate.

Green plantains are roasted over open coals, then mashed with pork lard into dense balls and served alongside smoky, salted cecina. Street stalls throughout Iquitos grill both together over wood fires.

Why it's made this way: Loreto's jungle communities smoke and salt pork for preservation in the humid Amazon climate, pairing naturally with plantain, the region's staple starch.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.