The most decorated restaurant in America in 2026 serves a pork chop. Not a composed plate of many things — a single bone-in chop with a strap of pork belly, seasoned with recaito, and fried until the skin fans outward from the bone in a wide, crackling skirt. That is Kabawa’s Chuleta Can Can, and it is what you want to make at home.
What Makes This Pork Chop Different
Most pork chops sold at supermarkets are cut from the loin only: tender, lean, and relatively forgiving. The chuleta can can cut extends lower, through the ribs, to include a strap of pork belly with the skin still attached. When the skin hits 375°F oil, the water in the subcutaneous fat layer converts to steam, the skin bubbles aggressively, and then — as the fat renders out — it firms and crisps and pulls away from the bone edge, flaring outward into the pleated shape that gives the dish its name. “Can can” is not a translation of something else; it is literally named after the cancan dancer’s skirt.
Chef Paul Carmichael encountered this dish during three years in Puerto Rico, eating at roadside fondas where the chuleta can can is a regional obsession — nearly every coastal town has a place known for theirs. He adapted it for Kabawa’s fine-dining context by applying a recaito marinade (recaito is Puerto Rico’s herb-forward sofrito base, built on culantro, a different and more pungent plant than cilantro) and finishing the roasted meat with both a clean pork jus and a vivid culantro oil. The technique is direct and teachable. The results are genuinely spectacular.
The Two Non-Negotiable Rules
Rule one: the skin must be bone-dry before frying. If there is moisture on the skin surface, it converts to steam on contact with the oil and the skin will steam and soften rather than fry and crisp. The recaito marinade goes only on the meat side — never the skin. After marinating, the chop rests uncovered in the refrigerator overnight so the skin’s surface dries. Then you pat it with paper towels before frying. This is not extra caution; it is the mechanism.
Rule two: the oil must be at the right temperature. Too cold (below 350°F) and the skin absorbs oil before it can crisp — the result is greasy, not crispy. Too hot (above 400°F) and the skin scorches on the outside before the fat renders underneath. 375°F is the target. The skin will bubble violently for the first 30 seconds, then settle into an even, controlled sizzle that tells you the temperature held and the fat is rendering properly.
The Cut
Get the right pork. This recipe is written for the authentic chuleta can can cut: bone-in, with loin, rib, and belly strap all attached, skin on. A Latin butcher will know exactly what to cut. A specialty or whole-animal butcher can make it to your specifications: bone-in loin chop extended through the ribs to include the belly with skin, about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. If you use a standard bone-in loin chop, you will get an excellent recaito pork chop — just without the dramatic flared skin effect that defines the presentation.
Recaito vs. Sofrito
Recaito is the raw herb base that Puerto Rican cooks use as a starting point for almost everything: a blend of culantro, ají dulce (small sweet peppers that look like habaneros but carry zero heat), cubanelle pepper, garlic, and onion. It is used as a marinade here, applied directly to the meat. The key ingredient is culantro — not cilantro. Culantro (Eryngium foetidum) is a long, serrated, tough leaf used throughout the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, more pungent and persistent in heat than its cousin cilantro (Coriandrum sativum). Find it at a Latin or Caribbean grocery. If you cannot, cilantro works and the flavor will be gentler but still authentic to the family of dishes this comes from.
The Pork Jus and Culantro Oil
After the oven finish, the sheet pan holds rendered pork fat and fond — the caramelized bits that stick to the foil. That is your pork jus starting point: deglaze with chicken stock, simmer briefly, and strain. It is not a refined sauce; it is a quick, clean, meaty liquid that pools under the sliced chop and draws the culantro oil into it.
The culantro oil takes under two minutes: leaves, neutral oil, a clove of garlic, salt, and a blender. It is the fresh acid counterpart to the fried, roasted pork — vivid green, herby, slightly sharp. Do not skip it. At Kabawa the combination of clean pork jus and bright herb oil is what makes the dish a restaurant dish rather than a very good chuleta can can from any fonda.
