Puerto Rico's Pork Highway

One of Puerto Rico’s Best Kept Culinary Secrets- Pork Highway!

 Ask Puerto Ricans for their favorite local dish, and nothing tops lechón (roasted pig) cooked slowly over an open fire. The meat’s smoky essence and tender chunks and the crackling (brown, crisp skin, the defining characteristic of lechon) comprise the island’s hallmark dish.

Hidden away in Puerto Rico’s Carite Forest, Guavate, a small town in the mountainous Cayey region is where you will find PR- 184, also known as Pork Highway.  This is where you will find dozens of large open-air restaurants called lechoneras.  Set side by side for several miles, roasting entire hogs on steels spits.

El Morro Lechonera on the PR-184 or Pork Highway photo taken Feb. 2016

 Pictured, Chef Eddye Medina, carveing his 150lb roasted pig at the El Morro Lechonera on the PR-184 or Pork Highway

Above Rice, beans, and roasted pig at the El Morro Lechonera on the PR-184 or Pork Highway

Below crisp skin, the defining characteristic of lechon at El Morro Lechonera 

Driving down PR-184 is easy to navigate. Winding through the hills and the surrounding forest you will be summoned by the smell of savory whole pig. 

Pictured, Chef Eddye Medina, serving his delicous roasted pig at the El Morro Lechonera on the PR-184 or Pork Highway