Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Canada
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican Republic
South Africa
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Sweet · Guyana
Black cake
Dark fruit cake made with dried fruits ground and soaked in rum for weeks, darkened with burnt caramel and doused with rum after baking. It's the Christmas cake in Guyana.
Flavors · Guyana
Garlic pork
Pork cured for days in vinegar with garlic, pepper and thyme, then fried. It arrived in Guyana with Portuguese settlers and is served at Christmas breakfast, with bread.
Traditional dish from Guyana
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Garlic pork — Guyana
Garlic pork is pork cured in vinegar. The pieces are seasoned with a paste of garlic and thyme, covered with a brine of vinegar, salt and pepper and left for several days, sometimes for two weeks or more. Then the brine is discarded, and the meat is fried in its own fat until browned. The flavor is tangy and strongly garlicky.
The dish comes from the Portuguese tradition, brought by Portuguese settlers who established themselves in Guyana. The Guyana Chronicle records the original Portuguese name as 'carne de vinagre e alhos'; NPR compares it to other vinegar-cured meat dishes from the Portuguese world, such as Goan vindaloo. Before refrigerators, the vinegar brine helped preserve the meat until the celebration.
In Guyana, garlic pork is a Christmas dish. The meat cured during December is fried on the morning of the 25th and served with hot bread, often cut into small pieces, with eggs or ham. Along with pepperpot and black cake, it appears among the dishes families consider indispensable on the day.
Share:
WhatsApp
Where it comes from
Guyana
Heritage of Portuguese settlers, served at Christmas breakfast throughout the country.
Ingredients
Pork, garlic, thyme, pepper, vinegar and salt.
How it is eaten
Fried, hot, with bread; often in small pieces, with eggs or ham, at breakfast.
When it is eaten
Christmas morning; the meat is started to be cured days or weeks beforehand.
Your questions
Questions about Garlic pork
Where does garlic pork come from?
From the Portuguese tradition, brought by the Portuguese who settled in Guyana. The name recorded by the country’s press is 'carne de vinagre e alhos'.
How long does the meat stay in the vinegar?
Several days, sometimes two weeks or more, depending on the family. Afterwards the brine is discarded and the meat is fried.
Flavors of Guyana
Discover other flavors of Guyana
Dish · Guyana
Cook-up rice
Rice cooked in a single pot with beans or peas, salted or fresh meat, coconut milk and herbs. It’s an everyday food in Guyana and the tradition for the last night of the year, Old Year’s Night.
Dish · Guyana
Dhal puri
Roti stuffed with ground, seasoned split pea, griddled and served with curry. It arrived with indentured workers from India, beginning in 1838, and today is one of Guyana’s most common snacks.
Dish · Guyana
Pepperpot
Dark meat stew slowly cooked in cassareep, a sauce made from the juice of bitter cassava, with cinnamon, clove and pepper. It originated with the Indigenous peoples, is called the national dish and is the morning Christmas dish in Guyana.
Drink · Demerara-Mahaica
Demerara rum
Rum made at Diamond Distillery on the east bank of the Demerara River near Georgetown, the last distillery in Guyana. Its historic wooden stills came from the distilleries of former sugar plantations.