Lacón con Patatas is Galician cured pork shoulder (lacón) simmered with potatoes and turnip greens, served as a hearty one-pot meal. The lacón — salt-cured for several weeks — seasons the whole pot with its deep, savory porkiness. It is the everyday winter dish of the Galician farmhouse, eaten after working in the cold and rain.
Lacón con Patatas is from Galicia, where lacón (the foreleg of the pig, salt-cured and dried for several weeks) is a defining ingredient of the regional cooking. It is the everyday version of the famous lacón con grelos — simpler, with potatoes instead of greens, but the same cured-pork depth. Every Galician household has lacón soaking in water in the weeks after the matanza, ready for quick one-pot meals.
A deep bowl with chunks of pale-pink cured pork, soft floury potatoes, and a clear, deeply savory broth. The pork is firm and salty; the potatoes have soaked up the broth and are meltingly tender. Eat it hot, with bread, on a cold rainy day. It is the warmest dish in Galicia.
The lacón must be soaked 24-48 hours in cold water with several changes to remove excess salt (it is cured very salty). It is then simmered very gently for 1.5-2 hours, which both cooks the meat and seasons the broth. The potatoes are added near the end and cooked until just tender — too long and they fall apart and cloud the broth.
Variations
Some add turnip greens (grelos) or cabbage; some add chorizo; some serve with a drizzle of olive oil and paprika.
On the Palate
Where Lacón con Patatas sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 30 min active + 2 hours 30 min waiting
- 11440 min
Soak 1 kg lacón (cured pork shoulder) in cold water for 24 hours, changing water 3 times.
Watch outSoak the cured shoulder a full day with several water changes — taste a sliver of raw edge; if it's still fiercely salty, it needs longer.
- 25 min
Place lacón in a large pot; cover with fresh cold water; bring slowly to a simmer.
- 390 min
Simmer gently 90 minutes, skimming occasionally.
Watch outKeep it at the barest simmer for the ninety minutes — a hard boil toughens the meat and makes the broth greasy instead of clean.
- 45 min
Peel potatoes; cut into chunks.
- 520 min
Add potatoes to the pot; cook 20 minutes until tender.
Watch outAdd the potatoes near the end and pull them the moment a knife slides in — overcooked, they crumble and cloud the broth.
- 63 min
Lift the lacón out; slice thickly.
- 72 min
Serve in deep bowls: potatoes and broth first, sliced lacón on top.
- 82 min
Drizzle with olive oil; finish with sweet paprika.
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