ANNOUNCER: And now "Signature Dish," a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on "Signature Dish," we're celebrating the Latin kitchen.

We're cutting a path across the Americas.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Starting with a Caribbean classic.

Looks like we are going whole hog.

MARIO: Puerto Rican cuisine doesn't get more pure than this.

SETH: We'll relish complex Central American flavors.

DANNY: Here we have the mole.

SETH: It's such a deep, beautiful color and the aroma.

You're killing me with this stuff, chef.

And savor some South American fusion.

I wasn't expecting a master class in Italian pasta making, but here we are.

Salud.

MANUEL: Salud.

JUAN: Salud.

SETH: I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV at each stop looking for the one thing you just gotta try... that signature dish.

My first stop is all the way down in Woodbridge, Virginia, just south of the Occoquan.

And in the middle of a large parking lot sits Lechonera DMV.

The weekend-only food truck is something of a pork haven, serving up their signature lechon.

MARIO: Lechon is probably the most famous dish out of Puerto Rico.

Everything start with a whole pig that gets seasoned and then it get roasted over wood or charcoal for a couple hours.

What makes it unique is a very crunchy skin and super tender and moist meat.

RICHARD: Mario and I have been working together for over 14 years at this point.

More than friends, we're family.

During COVID, we had extra time on our hands.

One day we decided to roast the pig.

MARIO: We start roasting pig out of a backyard with an idea of eating a pig.

Sell the rest to cover the cost.

We sell the whole pig, we didn't eat, and that's how Lechonera DMV started.

RICHARD: What we're doing, no one else is doing on the DMV.

We're open every Saturday, Sunday, from 1:00 to 5:00, until we run out.

As you can see, there's a lot of smoke here.

The flavors around the food truck are something very notable.

People see it, people smell it.

People stop by and little by little, our audience has just grown dramatically.

MARIO: We also like to spread our pride of being Puerto Rican.

You know, we don't hide it.

I wear a Puerto Rican hat.

We got a Puerto Rican flag.

It's all about spreading the culture.

Lechon is, it's a labor of love.

There's not a single Puerto Rican that will not remember lechon, and they will remember their childhood.

They will remember celebration, a new year, Christmas.

It's the typical dish on Christmas.

So for me, lechon is all about the gathering with the family.

The way we stay warm is when we see the face of people eating it.

A lot of the kids never seen a pig in their life.

So they come, they see, and they're like, "Wow!"

Adults come in and sometimes, "Oh, I haven't seen a pig in 30 years."

They start crying.

For us... That's what is important about the business.

SETH: Richard?

RICHARD: Hey Bienvenido.

SETH: Good to meet you.

Mario.

MARIO: Bienvenido Seth.

SETH: Whoa.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Looks like we're finally doing it.

We're going whole hog on "Signature Dish" today.

RICHARD: We're doing lechon today, most iconic dish back in Puerto Rico and now here in Woodbridge.

SETH: Well, it's really something to behold.

And Richard, you're a braver man than I am.

I could not be out here in a T-shirt on a day like today.

RICHARD: This is summertime for us.

You spend a winter out here, you get used to it.

SETH: All right, so how do you even begin to prepare this pig?

RICHARD: Well, first off, we're going to start doing a few incisions.

We season right before we go into the pit, we want to make sure that we can distribute the seasoning equally all around the pig.

SETH: And you're seasoning the inside of the pig here, is that correct?

RICHARD: And we're seasoning the inside of the pig, because we're cooking with direct high heat.

If we season the outside, that will burn.

You want a nice crispy skin.

SETH: And I've had Filipino lechon, I've had porchetta, but what makes Puerto Rican lechon special?

RICHARD: Well, for me, I would say it is the best, because basically, this is a tradition that I grew up doing.

My great-grandfather used to be the pig master back home.

And we try to carry on the recipe and the tradition here.

We start by having a very traditional seasoning, fresh garlic, dry oregano, fresh pepper and salt.

SETH: Well, this is a beautifully seasoned pig.

But what does it take to get this onto that?

RICHARD: Oh, we're about to show you right now.

Of course, slide it up.

You're cooking on direct heat, so...

There you go.

SETH: After Richard and Mario get the pig on the spit, they secure it in place using metal wire.

All right.

Well, I guess I didn't really know what I was getting myself into when I got out of bed this morning.

RICHARD: I don't think you had an idea of how real this was.

SETH: And this is how food is made.

RICHARD: When we first open Lechonera, the first debate we had, like, "Do we keep the head on, yes or no?

", because it's going to be a little bit difficult for some people.

But actually when we opened, we had a lot of people requesting to get the head.

We also have customers that call early in the morning, "Hey, can you save the head?

I'm going today."

SETH: Wow.

All right.

So there's a part of the pig for everybody.

RICHARD: Yes sir.

MARIO: There is.

RICHARD: So now the pig is ready to go on the pit.

So are you ready?

SETH: Let's do it.

RICHARD: All right.

MARIO: So now we're taking it to the pit.

Richard's going to go on the other side right now.

And then he's grabbing it.

RICHARD: Ready to go.

MARIO: And that's it.

Turn it on.

SETH: Then the machine does the work?

MARIO: Yeah.

The machine does the work.

We already have one going, because we want to eat some point today.

And then we going to baste it.

What we use is annatto seed oil.

We cook the annatto seeds in olive oil and avocado oil.

Every hour, we're constantly basting the pig.

SETH: And the annatto oil is giving it a really nice red color when you brush that on.

MARIO: Yes.

So it will help with the coloring of the pig and also will inject a little bit of some flavor.

When we get old people here and they try it, they're like, "Oh, did you put annatto seed?"

And we're like, "Okay so it gives some... SETH: They know.

MARIO: They know exactly.

And then something we also do is for younger generations, we do some what we call perniles, because the younger generations, they don't want the whole pig.

It's part of our menu today.

We got Chinese barbecue pork.

That's not anything traditional out of Puerto Rico, but it's one of Richard's favorite dish.

It's very common in some takeouts in Puerto Rico.

Then we got some pumpkin that we're roasting and some pineapples.

SETH: Wow.

And then obviously you got to be working this fire, making sure the right temperature all the time?

MARIO: Absolutely.

That's actually the hardest part.

That's what people tend to not doing it.

It takes six hours.

So you're constantly feeding fire.

We use charcoal and we use wood.

And you let it do its work.

SETH: Well, on a day like today, standing right here is a welcome.

MARIO: Trust me.

The winter is very, very, very important.

It's the thing that keep us warm.

SETH: Just like it's keeping these pigs nice and warm.

MARIO: Yeah.

Absolutely.

So we already baste the pig.

We're going to add some charcoal.

We're going to close this bad boy out, and then we're going to go cook some rice.

So our rice is very unique.

We make our own sazon with an annatto seed powder.

We're going to give those spices a little bit of a toast.

We use hand-cut vegetables that we sauté in an annatto seed oil.

We're going to incorporate the gandules into the pot.

And then what is very unique is we deglaze with Puerto Rico beer and then we let the alcohol cook.

Then we take some of the water that we use for the gandules.

We add saffron.

When we boil that for a couple minutes, we're going to add the rice.

We're going to start mixing and mixing and mixing.

When we see it that it's pretty much dry, we are going to cover it with banana leaves.

Cook it for like 35 to 45 minutes, and all our herbs get added to the end.

It's going to add more freshness to the rice.

So while this rice is cooking, we cannot forget about the main thing here.

We have to keep an eye on the pigs, adding charcoal and wood as necessary, and checking internal temperatures.

And then when the pig is ready, we take it out and we do the magic.

We chop it.

We are going to separate the pig into primals.

We take the skin, we let it cool down so it get nice and crispy, and then we chop it up.

Very unique here.

That is very different from the island.

We don't do bones, so we're going to take all the meat out of the bones and then we mix everything.

So you're going to get lean, you're going to get moist, you're going to get fatty parts.

So then the best way to serve it is a rice bowl.

We're going to take the rice with pigeon peas.

And then we switch sides often here on the truck.

Today we got braised green bananas.

We are going to make plantain relish.

We're going to add the pig and then we will be ready for a great feast.

SETH: All right, gentlemen.

I cannot wait.

RICHARD: It's the moment of truth.

SETH: I see some skin right on top, and I think we got to do a little crunch test here.

MARIO: Crunch test.

SETH: There's snap.

RICHARD: Oh.

There you go.

How's that?

SETH: Oh man.

I don't want to say too much yet.

I want to go in for some meat, but even in that one bite, nice herbal flavors.

And you didn't even rub the outside of the skin.

RICHARD: Not at all.

MARIO: Not at all.

SETH: But, I got to go in and try some of this meat as well.

RICHARD: Sure.

Let's eat.

Let's eat.

Use your hands, brother.

That's how you eat.

SETH: No more knife and fork.

Come on.

Let's do this.

RICHARD: That's the one.

Ain't that right?

SETH: All right.

Where have you guys been my whole life?

That is incredible.

Just perfectly seasoned.

And of course, the smoke, lots and lots of smoky flavor.

It just warms and fills you, which I really needed today.

And like any good kind of fatty pork dish, you need a little vinegar to cut it with, I'm guessing that's what's in here.

RICHARD: In here we have, I would say, Puerto Rican mother sauce.

Mayo ketchup.

SETH: Mayo ketchup.

Thousand Island dressing.

RICHARD: Thousand Island dressing, right?

And I will say pique.

You will find pique on any Puerto Rican family, under the sink.

SETH: Gotcha.

RICHARD: Your grandma would always have it, and that's what you want to use for your pork.

SETH: So this is a dip?

RICHARD: Dip or a drizzle.

SETH: Dip or drizzle.

All right.

RICHARD: How was that?

SETH: Oh.

I love that because it's piquant.

And you know what?

It also has a little bit of heat too... RICHARD: Oh yeah, it does.

SETH: ...which is nice.

RICHARD: It does.

And you always keep your base, and it's like sourdough, right?

You keep on building on top of your whole base so it can get pretty spicy over the time.

SETH: And on top of all that, I haven't even taken a bite of the rice yet.

Guys, that rice and those peas, everything is so creamy.

I feel like I'm getting another layer of Puerto Rican flavors here.

MARIO: Yeah, Seth, you know, this is basically the purest form of comida criolla Puerto Ricana.

Puerto Rican cuisine doesn't get more pure than this.

SETH: And I like too, so many food trucks are doing their cooking in a commissary kitchen or offsite, you know, for good reason, there's not a lot of space.

But I like that you guys are just putting on a show here.

RICHARD: We cook here.

You can come here, you can see it, you can feel it, you can smell it, and then you can eat it.

So it doesn't get better than that.

SETH: Well, this was just a barrage of smoke and flavor.

It's a cool, crisp day, but I feel like I've been transported to the islands.

I cannot thank you guys enough.

MARIO: Gracias.

RICHARD: Gracias.

Good to have you.

SETH: I'm heading next to Silver Spring.

Just off Georgia Avenue in the Montgomery Hills neighborhood is Lime & Cilantro.

At this all-day cafe and restaurant chef and owner, Danny Chavez is showcasing just how colorful and vibrant Central American cooking can be.

DANNY: I was born in El Salvador.

I'm from a little town called San Miguel.

Growing up, you know, Grandpa was always growing all the vegetables, so I learned from when I was a little baby how to, like, treat vegetables and how to respect the products that we eat.

So I was an executive chef at Art & Soul, a hotel downtown DC for three years.

Running a restaurant was definitely one thing that I had in mind was just like, let me just go and do my thing.

And we found the locations here at Silver Spring and we just went for it.

SETH: In the kitchen, chef Danny gets an assist from his mother Maria.

DANNY: Working with my mom in the kitchen is just joyful.

I just learn more from her every day.

Her tamales, you know, her recipe from grandma, she makes all the tamales.

She actually make all the pupusas too.

Being with my mom in the kitchen makes me want to go even higher.

We want to bring that traditional cuisine from El Salvador to a different spin.

It's either different ingredients or plating in a way that looks like art on the plate.

I think we are teaching our Salvadoran community that our food can be transformed to something higher than what we are used to.

SETH: Chef?

DANNY: Hey.

SETH: Good to meet you.

DANNY: How are you?

Thank You for stopping by.

SETH: I am really excited.

I see some dried chilies and spices, ooh, and chocolate.

I'm thinking maybe there's a mole in the works here.

DANNY: Yeah, we are going to do our braised short rib mole.

We don't do 30 ingredients in our mole, but, you know, our flavors are there.

SETH: Looks like we're at least up to double digits, though, right?

DANNY: Right.

Exactly.

SETH: How do you begin?

DANNY: So yeah.

We're going to start with toasting our chilies and spice.

We're going to toast it for a few minutes.

It's going to help us bring that mole flavor out, getting them a nice and brown.

And then here we have our rest of ingredients.

This is chicken and beef stock.

Then we have our raisins.

This is actually going to bring a little bit more sweetness, a little bit of acid.

We have our tomatoes in here.

SETH: Looks like they've been nicely charred up already?

DANNY: Yeah.

So we do char them ahead of time, just to bring a little bit of smokiness.

SETH: And of course chocolate, right?

DANNY: Yeah.

You can't make mole without chocolate.

SETH: And chef, is this chocolate sweetened or unsweetened chocolate?

DANNY: This is sweet chocolate, but we don't add too much chocolate to our mole.

We do have a little bit of plantain just to bring a little bit of sweetness in there too.

I haven't seen mole with plantains.

I think this is probably like a unique technique that I'm trying to bring from my country.

We can definitely pull our dry ingredients.

You see it nice and brown.

SETH: The aroma from those chilies, like the smokiness I'm picking up is really incredible.

DANNY: That's the whole point of toasting our ingredients for the mole.

We're just going to add them a little bit.

So we have ancho peppers and we have pasillas.

We're just going to keep slowly adding them, and then we're just going to make sure they all like submerged in the stock and they're just going to help us also release more flavor.

SETH: So with adding all these chilies, is this going to be a spicy mole?

DANNY: No.

Our mole is not spicy, but this is going to add the little kick in the back of your tongue.

We don't want to overpower the rest of the dish.

Now we're going to add the toasted ingredients.

We have coriander, aniseed, sesame seed, almonds, cinnamon, cloves.

I'm going to give a little stir.

SETH: I like that the pot is nearly overflowing with flavor, both literally and figuratively.

DANNY: Yeah.

So now we're going to let all the ingredients simmer for 30 minutes.

We're going to blend it and then we're going to put it back in the pot.

We're going to fry up the plantain and after we add the fried plantain, we're going to cook it for eight hours.

So here we have the finished mole.

Obviously we're not going to wait eight hours for you guys to film this, right?

So as you can see all the colors, it's just so bright and so deep.

SETH: There's such a beautiful gloss to that mole sauce and the color just looks so rich.

And the aroma again.

You're killing me with this stuff, chef.

DANNY: This is the beauty of taking a lot of time to make this mole.

Each hour it just gets even richer and richer.

So we have the mole.

Over here we have our eight-hours short rib.

So after we braise it for eight hours, we let it sit overnight in the liquid, so it concentrates all the flavor in there.

What we're going to do right now is we're just going to put it in the oven so it can come up to the temperature.

SETH: So we got eight or nine hours on the mole, eight hours of the short ribs.

This dish takes a little time to get it right?

DANNY: It does.

It does.

So now that the short is in the oven we're going to season our rice.

We actually cooked this rice in chicken stock.

So here we have a salt and pepper.

So now we're going to add the green.

We don't want to cook it too much, because we want to preserve the color of it.

We're going to stir it, make sure that everything gets in there.

SETH: So you just want them to wilt just a little bit?

DANNY: Right.

Yeah.

Now that this is done, we're going to do the finishing plating.

We're going to do rice first.

Short rib goes on top, and we just glaze with more mole.

The garnish are going to be a pickle cabbage, and we're going to do a little bit of queso fresco.

And our final garnish will be of course, cilantro.

SETH: All right chef.

So many beautiful colors and I know this is the culmination of many, many hours of work.

I can't wait to reap the reward.

DANNY: With this final dish, you're going to be tasting a little bit of sweet acid, a little bit of saltiness, so it's like a full combination.

Hopefully you're enjoying it.

SETH: Holy mole.

This dish is an instant favorite of mine.

Really nice smoky notes in that mole.

And some really interesting flavor notes on top.

Something pickled as well?

DANNY: Yeah, so it's pickle red cabbage, which is, in El Salvador we call it escabeche.

It's going to be sweet acid and little saltiness.

So that's what makes this dish, I would say, perfect.

SETH: Well, I love the way that pickle flavor works.

And the short rib too, just so tender.

And I guess that only comes from all that extra time braising?

DANNY: Yeah.

No.

Of course.

You know, the time-consuming, the final product, eight hours braising, it should just melt in your mouth.

SETH: And I got to say the cilantro, it really does play nicely.

And of course it's Lime & Cilantro.

DANNY: Yeah.

Of course.

Yeah.

How can I not have it in a dish?

I tell people, you know, "Our food is amazing, tastes really good, you barely can tell there's cilantro in our food."

SETH: Have you been able to convince some cilantro haters, bring along to your side?

DANNY: We have.

We have.

That's our goal.

It could be overwhelmed, but the way we use it is modern.

To all those that don't enjoy cilantro, I've always ask them, like, "Come in, come and try us.

Give us a chance and we'll prove you wrong."

SETH: You've had so much success so quickly since you've opened, how are you able to stay true to the roots of the vision you've had for this restaurant?

DANNY: Yeah.

A big part is family, right?

We stay together and we work together.

And when it presents something that we are cooking with our heart and to our guests.

SETH: And is that easy for you to work with your mother in the kitchen?

Is there ever any judgment about how you're doing something?

DANNY: Yeah.

So normally if I'm doing something in the kitchen, she look at me, "Why don't you add this sazon on it?"

I'm like, "Mom!"

But yeah, you know, we just have fun in the kitchen and I learn a lot from her every day.

And that's the goal.

SETH: Well, you have so many flavors at play here.

Such a balance of sweet and smoky, pickle, rich, just a wonderful, wonderful dish.

And I can't wait to see you again, chef.

Thanks so much.

DANNY: Yeah.

We'll be here waiting for you.

SETH: Our Latin voyage is coming to a close in Adams Morgan.

Here you'll find Ceibo, an upscale spot showcasing the cuisine of Southern South America.

The restaurant is run by brothers Juan and Manuel Olivera.

MANUEL: We're from Uruguay and we came because my dad was a diplomat for the Navy.

I think it's a very interesting area in South America.

We have a lot of influences from other countries like Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, that you can see on the food of Uruguay as well.

MANUEL: So I think Juan makes really interesting what he's doing with the food.

I think he just cooks what he likes to cook and that's one of our strong points.

We just cook what we think is good, you know?

SETH: At Ceibo Manuel's drinks program shares top billing with Juan's cooking.

MANUEL: So the objective of the beverage program, it's to highlight the bar culture of Uruguay and, kind of, Buenos Aires as well, with all those influences.

We use ingredients, herbs like mate on our cocktails.

And then the wine list features wines from Uruguay and South America, Argentina, Brazil.

Uruguayan wine, it's really special.

Uruguay, we have a small population.

The wines in there is really boutique.

They really curate the wines and put a lot of love into them.

I think people that are into wine, they kind of know.

So we actually sell a lot of wine from Uruguay here and we have people coming here specifically for that.

SETH: I'm off to Ceibo, named for the National Flower of Uruguay to learn more about their European-influenced signature dish.

Chef, good to meet you.

JUAN: Good to meet you.

SETH: I am excited about whatever you have in store today.

What are you cooking up?

JUAN: We making our signature dish, chorizo dumplings.

So we use that as a filling for the dough.

It's not like a classic dumpling, it's a ricotta gnocchi.

SETH: All right.

So gnocchi.

This is a little bit of that Italian influence?

JUAN: Exactly.

And also, because part of my career I spend on Italy, I worked Italian places.

SETH: All right.

So you're going to start with the dumpling dough right here?

JUAN: Yes.

First, we do the sheep ricotta, whole egg.

We're going with the olive oil, salt and pecorino sardo.

SETH: Pecorino's going to add a little bit of a sharpness as well?

JUAN: Yes, so now we want to start to work a little bit with this.

We want to make kind of a nice paste, smooth.

So now we're going with the flour.

Now we want to mix this for one or two minutes and we finish on the table.

Work with our hands.

SETH: And with gnocchi dough, too, you don't want to overwork it, right?

You want to be nice and gentle.

JUAN: No.

Of course.

So now we start to try to put everything together.

And in this particular, because it's a gnocchi dough with a good amount of cheese, people can feel the gnocchi a little bit.

SETH: So the dough is not just a vehicle for the filling.

JUAN: Exactly.

No.

No.

SETH: It's also a key player in this dish.

JUAN: Yeah.

So now you see the dough.

SETH: It's getting nice and stretchy.

JUAN: Okay, so we want to add a little bit of flour.

So now we push.

SETH: I got to tell you, chef, when I came to a South American restaurant today, I wasn't expecting a master class in Italian pasta making.

But here we are.

JUAN: Yeah.

So, now we use a rolling pin to stretch the dough.

SETH: Chef, I've seen some rolling pins before, but never a beast like this.

JUAN: Yeah.

No.

So this is our chorizo filling.

SETH: All right, and every country in Latin America is going to have their own version of chorizo, right?

JUAN: Yes.

If you go more like north of South America, you see more spices.

But the classic Argentinian and Uruguayan sausage is salt, paprika, no more than that.

And of course, 100% pork.

SETH: But come on, which country makes the best chorizo?

JUAN: Uruguay, for sure.

SETH: I knew it.

JUAN: Yeah.

For us, it's the best.

So we going like this.

One order is four pieces.

Now very important thing is little bit of water.

The water helps the dough stick together.

So we're going like this SETH: Little pockets of porky flavor.

JUAN: Yes.

Now we use a cutter.

SETH: And I like that everything's being done by hand and not in a machine.

It's giving these dumplings a little bit of a rustic look and feel to them.

To make the broth we use celery, carrots, and onions.

Kombu, some bonito flakes, dried porcini mushrooms, some water.

We cook it for about two hours.

After we cook the dumplings on the broth... And the chorizo dumpling will be ready.

SETH: All right.

Chef, Manuel, this is a beautiful dish.

I cannot wait to dig into one of these dumplings.

Trying to get a little bit of that broth and hopefully a mushroom in my first bite.

JUAN: The idea is a well-balanced dish.

You feel all the fattiness of the sausage, the vinegar of the mushrooms, the umami in the broth, with the freshness of the scallions too.

SETH: Wow!

My mushroom fell down so I had to go back and get it.

But that is just a stellar bite.

The mushroom has that real acidity that balances so well with the richness of that chorizo.

And the creaminess too, I guess that's coming from the ricotta.

Comes through loud and clear.

And I see some red wine.

Are we looking at an Uruguayan wine here?

MANUEL: Yes.

So this is a wine from the north of Uruguay, from a hill called Cerro Chapeu.

The grape is Tannat.

It was introduced by the French a long time ago.

It's usually a bigger, bolder tannic wine that we enjoy with steak usually.

And it really pairs well with the chorizo dumplings.

SETH: All right.

Salud?

MANUEL: Salud.

JUAN: Salud.

SETH: Salud.

Oh, yeah.

Almost like a bolder pinot noir.

MANUEL: Yeah.

SETH: And I liked that the French brought that grape.

So we're talking about Spanish influence, Italian influence, French influence.

And when I think about, you know, countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, in my head I'm thinking meat, potatoes.

I don't know if that's a commonly held misconception about South American food.

JUAN: Yes and no.

Like, traditionally yes.

But now I think it's more open, on other things.

MANUEL: I think that when people come in, they're surprised that half of the menu is, like, veggies and different techniques.

We definitely do have some steak, but other things as well.

This is really unique from Juan, but I think in Argentina and Uruguay, because you have so many people from different countries, you definitely have this type of fusions going on right now.

SETH: And I have to say, I love my brother dearly.

I don't think the two of us could go into business together.

How do you guys make it work?

MANUEL: It's definitely really fun.

There is a lot of competition, you know, between the brothers, so I think that helps.

JUAN: I think it's a double competition, because he work in the front and we work in the back.

So we always are constantly like challenge ourselves.

SETH: Well, I'm very impressed that you guys are making it work.

I've learned a lot about Uruguayan food today.

I'm excited to learn a lot more about Uruguayan wines, so I'll definitely be coming back.

Thank you guys so much.

JUAN: Thank you for coming.

MANUEL: Thank you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.