Recipe · Main course · Amazon
Tacacho con cecina
Green plantains roasted, mashed with lard and pieces of crisp pork, shaped into balls and served with smoked pork.
- Serves 4 (8 tacacho balls)
- About 1 hour (estimate)
- Intermediate
Balls of roasted green plantain, mashed with lard and pieces of crisp pork, and slices of dried, smoked pork: tacacho con cecina is the breakfast of the Peruvian Amazon, from Tarapoto to Iquitos.
“What is pounded”
According to Wikipedia, the word tacacho is said to come from the Quechua taka chu, “what is pounded”. The green plantains are roasted on charcoal, or boiled in some regions, then pounded on the batán with chopped chicharrón and lard, and shaped into balls. Wikipedia adds that it is eaten mainly at breakfast, and that cecina, in Peru, is a product of the forest that goes with tacacho.
Plantain and cecina, in Switzerland
Plantain is sold in African and Latin American grocery shops: choose it very green and firm, not yellow; ripe, it becomes sweet and no longer holds together. Amazonian cecina, dried and smoked pork, is almost impossible to find: smoked pork (shoulder, ribs) comes close. Be careful not to confuse it with Spanish cecina, which is dried, salted beef.
Our version
The oven replaces the embers: it cooks the plantains well, without the smoky taste. The label on the smoked meat tells you whether it needs to be cooked.
Ingredients
Serves 4 (8 tacacho balls)
Estimated preparation time
- Active time
- 30 minutes
- Cooking
- 30 minutes for the plantains, 10 to 25 minutes for the meat depending on the product
- Total
- About 1 hour
Techniques: Oven, Frying.
The tacacho
The meat
To serve
Tick off the ingredients as you go: the boxes are remembered on this device.
Useful equipment
- An oven tray
- A frying pan
- A pestle or a sturdy potato masher
- A cooking thermometer
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Slit the skin of the plantains along their whole length, without peeling them, and place them on the tray. Roast them for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them halfway through, until the skin blackens and the flesh is tender.
- Meanwhile, fry the diced pork in the frying pan over a medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until it is golden and crisp and has released its fat. Keep the pork and the fat separate.
- Peel the plantains while still hot, cut them into pieces and mash them with the pestle with the salt, half the crisp pork and two spoonfuls of lard or fat: the mixture should be compact, with a few pieces.
- With lightly greased hands, shape 8 balls the size of a large orange, working in the rest of the pork. Keep them warm.
- Cook the meat according to the product: raw smoked pork must be cooked, in the frying pan or the oven, until at least 70 °C at the core; a product that is already cooked is just reheated and browned. Read the label.
- Serve the tacacho balls with the meat cut into slices and the salsa criolla.
Signs of success
- The flesh of the roasted plantains is pale yellow, tender and a little floury; mashed, it forms a mixture that holds together.
- The balls keep their shape, with bits of crisp pork inside.
- The meat is browned on the surface; being smoked, it stays firmer than fresh meat.
Precautions
- Smoked meat is not necessarily cooked: some must be cooked through, others are ready to eat. Follow the label; if in doubt, cook it.
- The plantains come out of the oven very hot: leave them to cool for a few minutes before peeling them.
Allergens identified
No major allergen in the list of ingredients.
No major allergen identified in this list of ingredients; check the label of the smoked meat.
Always check the labels of the products you buy (sauces, stocks, chilli pastes).
Variations and tips
- Over embers, as in the Amazon: the plantains are roasted directly on the charcoal.
- Plantains boiled and then mashed, as in some regions, notably Huánuco according to Wikipedia.
- With Amazonian chorizo, alongside or instead of the cecina.
Reasonable substitutions
- Spanish cecina: it is dried, salted beef, very different from the pork cecina of the Amazon; it does not replace it.
- Without pork: oil instead of lard, and a fried egg with the tacacho; the taste changes noticeably, it is an adaptation.
Storage
- Leftovers: in the fridge within one to two hours of cooking, to be eaten within 48 hours or frozen. Tacacho balls are reheated by browning them in the frying pan.
Going further
Sources and dates
3 sources
Prices, opening hours and rules change: every piece of information cited links to its source, with the date it was consulted.
Figures and rules cited
- at least 70 °C at the core: Minimum core temperature for meat, poultry, fish and seafood (general Swiss guideline) (Switzerland) . A food safety guideline, not a culinary doneness criterion: some meats are served more cooked.
Official source: FSVO, Hygiène et aliments (food hygiene: four basic rules, in French) (new tab) · consulted on 3 October 2026 - in the fridge within one to two hours of cooking, to be eaten within 48 hours or frozen: Cooling and keeping cooked leftovers (United Kingdom) . The same source asks you to thaw food in the fridge and to eat thawed food within 24 hours.
Official source: GOV.UK (Food Standards Agency), cooling, freezing and defrosting food safely (18 December 2017) (new tab) , published on 18 December 2017 · consulted on 3 October 2026
Sources consulted
- Wikipedia (Spanish), Tacacho (roasted green plantain, pounded with chicharrón and lard, Quechua name, breakfast) (new tab) (consulted on 3 October 2026)
- Wikipedia (Spanish), Cecina (in Peru, a product of the forest served with tacacho) (new tab) (consulted on 3 October 2026)
- PROMPERÚ, the cooking of the Amazon (tacacho with chicharrones or dried meat) (new tab) (consulted on 3 October 2026)
How we choose and date our information: our method. Has something changed? Let us know.