The Cook’s Kitchen

I whipped up a mojo earlier this week and it worked some real magic on chicken. Now I’m not talking about the little bag full of herbs, powders, a lock of hair or some fingernail clippings…that kind of a mojo is pronounced mo-joe. I made a mojo, pronounced mo-ho, which is a sauce that can also be used as a marinade. Mojos have Cuban roots. They are easy to make and of course come in several varieties. Mojos are made with sour orange juice, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper and hot peppers. I like to add some green onion & oregano. Sometimes I add some cilantro too. Vinegar can wake up the flavors as well.

Like any classic preparation, freshness of ingredients is very important. If you have the luxury to live in Florida you can find an orange that has kind of a bumpy skin that is too sour to eat as-is, but it is perfect in marinades. The juice of this orange is the base ingredient in a mojo. Mojos are used on shrimp, chicken, pork as well as flank or skirt steak. If you can’t find sour orange juice, equal parts of orange juice and lime juice is a good substitute.

I live in Wyoming and needless to say, some specialty items are hard to come by. My friend Richard, whom I met through The Big Green Egg Forum, lives in Florida. Richard recently shipped me a care package that included some bottled sour orange juice, so I thought I would share my version of sour orange mojo. I prefer to use my molcajete for most of the preparation.

Sour Orange Mojo

• 6 to 10 cloves of garlic.
• 4 or 5 green onions or 1 red onion.
• Several tablespoons of olive oil.
• 1 tablespoon salt.
• 1 teaspoon crushed pepper, or to taste.
• 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano.
• Dried peppers like scotch bonnet or red chili flakes to taste.
• 1 cup sour orange juice.

Optional ingredients include:

• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• Curry powder to taste will make a West Indies flavor
• 2 tomatillos, roasted, cored and crushed will make a mojo verde
• 1 jalapeno, cored and crushed instead of the dried peppers

In a molcajete or your mortar, smash the garlic, onion, peppers, salt, spices and any optional ingredients into a coarse paste. Warm the olive oil to medium heat. Pour the oil over the paste and let sit a few minutes then transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Wisk in the orange juice and vinegar (if used). Adjust the level of black pepper and salt.

For marinating I like to use a zipper bag adding the meat first and enough mojo to coat nicely. If any mojo remains, add it to some chicken breasts or pork chops and freeze in zipper bags, then you have a head start on your next meal.

Marinating times are an hour or two for chicken pieces, three hours for leg quarters, three or four hours for pork chops or flank steak and five hours to overnight for pork roasts. Experiment with the times to suit your tastes.