Liliana’s Thanksgiving Pavochon with Pork, Beef, Raisins & Almond Stuffing

Pavochon is what Puerto Ricans make when they want to go big on Thanksgiving. And yes, unlike other Latino countries, Thanksgiving is a holiday Puerto Ricans celebrate: Both back on the island and here in the States. But we typically do it our own way, and this is where pavochon comes in.

What’s pavochon, some of you may wonder? It’s a uniquely Boricua way to prepare the big bird. A mashup of the words pavo (turkey) and lechon (roast pork), pavochon is a whole turkey that is marinated with lots of adobo, sazon and spices like a holiday pernil, to give it flavorful, super-rich-tasting oomph.

Pavochon is also this: The best tasting turkey you will have in your life, promises Liliana M. Molina of Los Angeles. 

Cooking turkey this way adds a ton of juiciness and Latino-style sabor, says Liliana, a Puerto Rican film/TV director and longtime script supervisor. I met Liliana by chance on a plane last December, when both of us happened to be sitting next to each other on a flight to San Juan. We discovered we were both going to visit our moms back on the island — and that both of us love cooking in general and Puerto Rican recipes in particular.

And so it was that we talked turkey for most of the flight. Liliana had just made her famous 24-pound pavochon the previous week. Every Thanksgiving, she invites about 18 friends in Los Angeles to her home for a Puerto Rican feast. The pavochon is the star, but her table is also piled high with these Boricua traditional holiday essentials: pasteles (the P.R. version of tamales, made with a yautia-plantain-green banana masa; wrapped in banana leaves; and boiled), arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), green salad — and lots of coquito and mojitos to wash it all down.

How Is Pavochon Different Than American-Style Turkey?

if you’re one of those people who find turkey dry and bland, this is the Thanksgiving recipe for you. Because of the way pavochon is marinated in sazon, adobo, garlic and olive oil, starting two or three days ahead and draped in raw bacon slices when roasting, this preparation will explode any ideas you have about what turkey tastes like. Plus, when you stuff pavochon with a picadillo-like Puerto Rican filling, you have an island-style flavor bomb of delicioso.

”I’ve been making this pavochon for Thanksgiving at least 30 years, whether I’m in L.A. or back in Puerto Rico,” says Liliana, who grew up in San Juan. She got this recipe from a friend decades ago, and has been tinkering with it ever since. “I love my turkey and my filling really juicy, bien mojaito. That’s why you use the butter and the bacon. The butter is very important.”

Another key difference in Liliana’s turkey: Traditionally, most cooks stuff pavochon with a plantain-based monfongo stuffing. Not her.

”I don’t like mofongo stuffing. I think it’s too dry,” says Liliana. ”I like my pavochon stuffing to be a little bit sweet and really jugoso.” Her go-to (and always-requested) stuffing combines equal parts of ground pork and beef and adds sweet raisins, sliced almonds, sofrito, adobo and spices traditionally used in Puerto Rican cooking. The result is a savory sweetness that brings depth and sabor.

Liliana says she makes sure to prepare lots of extra stuffing each year, so she can use use the leftovers to make empanada-like Puerto Rican pastelillos in the days after Thanksgiving. She buys frozen pastelillo discs, adds a scoop of stuffing mix in each, and bakes (instead of fries) them to make them healthier. Liliana also uses the extra meat filling to make lasagna. This is truly the stuffing that keeps on giving, she says.

One final cooking tip: Liliana is all about roasting her turkey in an oven bag. “It comes out so, so, so juicy. I wouldn’t make it any other way. But you do have to have a friend come over to help you lift the turkey into the oven bag. It gets so heavy when it’s stuffed with the meat and raisin filling.” Bonus: Using an oven bag also knocks off about an hour of roasting time, she adds.

Ready to taste Thanksgiving Puerto Rican-style? If you’re not lucky enough to score an invite to Liliana’s annual Los Angeles Boricua T Day party, here is the next best thing: Her pavochon and savory-sweet stuffing recipe.

How to Make Liliana’s Pavochon for a Puerto Rican Thanksgiving

Liliana’s Thanksgiving  Pavochon with Pork, Beef & Raisin & Almond Stuffing

Recipe by Liliana M. Molina

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings

18

servings

Marinate

2 to 3

days

Cooking Time

4 to 5

hours

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey, 24 lbs (to feed 18 people with leftovers)

• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature

• 2 lb bacon, raw

• 1 oven roasting bag, turkey-size

• 2 to 3 Tbsp flour, to coat the oven roasting bag

• 
  For the Pavochon Marinade

• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced or pressed

• 4 Tbsp adobo, divided

• 2 packets sazon with achiote

• 1 cube chicken bouillon

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• For the Meat, Raisins and Almonds Stuffing

• 4 eggs

• 2 lbs ground pork

• 2 lbs ground beef (80% lean)

• 2 Tbsp adobo

• 1 Tbsp garlic powder

• 1 Tbsp onion powder

• 2 packets sazon with achiote

• 1 1/2 cups ground bread crumbs

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 4 oz tomato sauce (1/2 can)

• 1/2 cup sofrito (recipe here)

• 1 onion, small

• 1 cup almonds, sliced

• 1 cup raisins

• 1/2 cup water

Directions

• Marinate the Pavochon (2 to 3 Days Before Thanksgiving)
• In a bowl, mix fresh garlic, 2 Tbsp adobo, sazon, chicken bouillon and olive oil.
• Rub the marinade all over the turkey.
• Cover the turkey tightly in aluminum foil and place in fridge.
• The next day, sprinkle adobo all over the turkey. Cover and return to the fridge.
• The third day, which means it’s Thanksgiving Thursday in Liliana’s home, sprinkle adobo all over the turkey one last time. It’s ready to be filled with the stuffing and roasted.
• Make the Ground Pork, Beef, Raisins and Almond Stuffing
• Beat the eggs lightly, with a fork.
• In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs with the ground pork and beef. Use your hands and work them together until fully blended.
• Mix in the ground bread crumbs.
• Add adobo, garlic powder, onion powder, and sazon. Mix well.
• In a large pot or olla, warm the olive oil
• Add tomato sauce, sofrito, diced onion, sliced almonds and raisins and stir together. Sauté for 10 minutes.
• Add the pork and beef mixture and stir well.
• Stir in half the water and let simmer over low heat for 1 hour. If the mixture looks like it’s getting dry, add a little more water. You’ll know the stuffing is ready when the raisins are plump and look almost like grapes and the almonds are soft, says Liliana.
• Let cool for 30 minutes before placing into turkey cavity.
• If you make this stuffing the day before, like Liliana does, let the stuffing fully cool and then place in the fridge until ready to use when cooking the turkey.
• Stuff and Roast the Pavochon
  
• Preheat oven to 325°.
• Remove the marinated turkey from the fridge. Place on a work surface.
• Fill turkey cavity with the stuffing — as much as will fit, says Liliana.
• Slice the butter into squares and rub all over the turkey. Carefully lift the skin covering the breasts, thighs and legs and spread with butter as best you can.
• Drape the entire surface of the turkey with slices of bacon, horizontally and vertically.
• Open your turkey roasting bag. Place about 2 Tbsp of flour and spread it all around the interior of the bag. This helps prevent the turkey skin from sticking to the bag while cooking.
• Place the marinated, bacon-draped turkey into the roasting bag. You will likely need someone to help you, says Liliana. This stuffed 24-lb turkey weighs a lot!
• With a knife, make a ½ inch slice in the bag to release a little steam.
• Place in preheated 325° oven for the amount of hours your stuffed turkey needs. Note: Using an oven bag reduces the roasting time by about 1 hour. Liliana says she follows the directions on the oven-bag box. For example: Her 24-lb stuffed turkey takes about 4 ½ hours to cook. You don’t need to baste the turkey, due to the bag. You’ll know it’s ready when a meat thermometer in the turkey breast’s center is 165°.
• When ready, remove the turkey from the oven. Open the bag carefully so you don’t burn yourself with the steam. Reserve the roasting juices.
• Remove the stuffing from the cavity with a large spoon and place in your serving bowl. Cover to keep warm until serving.
• Let the turkey sit for 15 minutes.
• Slice the turkey. Lightly sprinkle leftover juices from the oven bag on the turkey slices and the stuffing. Liliana recommends serving pavochon with a traditional Boricua side dish like arroz con gandules and her all-time favorite Thanksgiving dessert: apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

• Liliana starts marinating her turkey 3 days before Thanksgiving. She says this is the secret to getting a super flavorful, juicy pavochon.
• Be sure to use ground bread crumbs and not the larger size crumbled-bread pieces, says Liliana.