Revamping the Sour Orange
Commonly serving as a marinade for Cuban pork, the sour orange gets a role in local Miami dishes.
Out of all the citruses in the Sunshine State, the sour orange might be the most overlooked. With their wrinkled skin and mouth-puckering bitterness, sour oranges are known for very few applications. In Miami, they are most often associated with mojo criollo, a Cuban marinade for grilled chicken or pork. It’s traditional for a reason, but with all its complexities and abundance of growth in Florida, the ugly little fruit is capable of so much more. These two chefs have given sour oranges a new purpose.
Pork Belly with Sour Orange-Persimmon Mojo
Pork and sour orange mojo are an obvious coupling, but Chef James McNeal of Over/Under flips the pair on its head. Rather than marinating his Watson Farms pork belly in the mojo (full recipe here), he uses it as a jammy sauce. McNeal blends up charred, pork-fat-brushed persimmons with onion, thyme, Florida wildflower honey, and sour orange juice. The fragrant sauce sits beneath fried plantains, charred green onion, chiles, and McNeal’s jerk-spiced pork belly. The mojo plays an essential role, brightening up the pork’s melt-in-your-mouth umami.
Sour Orange Pie
The sour orange’s reputation with savory cuisine can hold chefs back from using it in pastry, but with a similar flavor profile to its key lime counterpart, McNeal’s confident slice of sour orange pie proves that the fruit can belong in any course. He switches out the conventional graham cracker crust for one made of saltines and tops the sour orange cream with toasted meringue. Think an orange creamsicle with a sprinkle of zest.
The Foreign Orange
To Rising Star Chef Michael Beltran, sour orange is the flavor that represents his childhood in Miami. “I have a thing with reinventing how people view the sour orange,” Beltran says. “My grandparents have a sour orange tree, and we used it every day.” The Foreign Orange, featured on Ariete’s tasting menu, is basically an ode to the bitter fruit and all things Miami. Beltran shapes foie gras mousse, sour orange gelée, and duck confit into an “ugly orange.” The intensely rich mousse is placed upon bitter charcoal and chocolate “dirt,” along with amaranth and mint leaves. Additionally, Beltran showcases sour oranges as a mouth-coating caramel over a plantain pavé with seared foie, demonstrating how varied the wrinkly fruit can be.
