Amazonian roasted collared peccary — sajino (collared peccary, the Amazon's wild pig) marinated in garlic, cumin, ají, chicha de jora, and lime, slow-roasted whole or in pieces, served with patacones, yuca, and rice.
Sajino (Pecari tajacu, collared peccary) is the most common wild pig of the Amazon and a prized game meat for the Iquitos and Pucallpa indigenous communities (Cocama, Shipibo, Yagua). The meat is lean and firm, with a gamey flavor distinct from domestic pork. Sajino is hunted and shared communally; the dish is cooked for weddings, religious feasts, and community gatherings. Iquitos restaurants now offer it as a special when sustainability allows, and some farms raise sajino for the food trade.
Tender mahogany-brown peccary chunks in a dark spiced sauce, golden patacones, white yuca cubes, white rice. The first bite: gamey peccary flavor (like wild boar but more distinct), ají panca's smoky depth, citrus brightness from the lime. The patacones soak up the spiced sauce; the yuca adds starchy heft. Eaten at Amazon weddings and feasts, where the host serves the honored guests first.
Sajino's lean meat (with very little fat) requires the long marinade + low-and-slow roast to become tender — fast cooking dries it out irreversibly. The chicha de jora provides acid + complex flavors from fermentation; substituting with beer + vinegar gets close but the chicha is unique. The covered roast (foil for 90 min) prevents the meat from drying while infusing the sauce flavors; the final uncovered roast (30 min) creates the Maillard crust.
Variations
Iquitos canonical with sajino + chicha de jora + ají panca; Pucallpa variant uses chonta and tucupí in the marinade; modern Lima restaurants sometimes use wild boar or pork shoulder (sustainability concerns about sajino); the dish is best at festival times when fresh sajino is hunted.
On the Palate
Where Sajino al Horno sits in the Peruvian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 1 hour active + 4 hours waiting
- 110 min
Buy 1.5kg sajino meat (peccary; substitute with wild boar shoulder/loin, or pork shoulder if neither available — the dish character changes with substitution but works). Cut into 6cm chunks.
- 2245 min
Marinate: in a bowl, combine 2 tbsp ají panca paste + 1 tbsp ají amarillo paste + 6 minced garlic cloves + 2 tbsp ground cumin + 2 tbsp oregano + 1 tbsp annatto powder + 100ml chicha de jora (or beer) + 1/4 cup lime juice + 4 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp salt + 1 tbsp black pepper. Rub all over the meat; cover; refrigerate 4 hours.
- 35 min
Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- 47 min
Transfer the meat + marinade to a heavy roasting pan. Add 1 chopped onion + 1 chopped red pepper + 2 chopped tomatoes + 500ml beef broth + 2 bay leaves. Cover with foil.
- 5120 min
Roast covered 90 min. Remove foil; roast another 30 min until the meat is fork-tender and the surface is browned. The pan juices should be reduced and thick.
Watch outKeep it foil-covered the first stretch so the lean meat steams tender; only then uncover to brown — pull the foil early and it dries out for good.
- 623 min
Make accompaniments: prepare patacones (twice-fried green plantain), boil yuca (peeled, cubed) until tender, and cook white rice.
Watch outUncover only until a fork slides in easily and the top colors deep; the pan juices should reduce to a glossy, thick gravy.
- 74 min
Plate: place a generous portion of sajino + pan sauce on each warm plate. Add 2-3 patacones + a few yuca cubes + a scoop of rice. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a lime wedge. The pan juices should be served alongside as gravy. Pair with cold beer or chicha de jora.
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