Carne de chango facts for kids
Carne de chango (say "CAR-neh deh CHAN-go") is a special dish from Mexico. Its name means "monkey meat" in Spanish, but don't worry, it's actually made from pork!
This tasty food comes from the Catemaco area in the state of Veracruz. It's made from a cut of pork loin that is first soaked in lime juice. After that, it's smoked to preserve it, which gives it a unique flavor.
The reason this dish, once made from monkey meat, now uses pork is an interesting story. Long ago, people in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas region hunted two types of monkeys that lived there. They hunted so many that these monkeys became very rare and were almost gone. To protect the monkeys, people stopped hunting them for food and started using pork instead. This change helped the monkey populations recover.
What is Carne de Chango?
Carne de chango is a traditional Mexican dish, especially popular in the Catemaco region of Veracruz. It's known for its rich, smoky flavor and tender texture.
How is it Made?
The process of making Carne de chango involves two main steps:
- Marinating: First, the pork loin is cut into pieces and soaked in fresh lime juice. This step helps to tenderize the meat and adds a tangy flavor.
- Curing and Smoking: After marinating, the pork is smoke-cured. This means it's slowly cooked and preserved using smoke, which gives it a deep, smoky taste and helps it last longer.
Why Did the Meat Change?
Originally, this dish was made with meat from local monkeys. However, over time, too many monkeys were hunted in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas mountains where they live. This made the monkey populations dangerously small. To protect these animals and prevent them from disappearing completely, people in the region decided to stop using monkey meat. They switched to using pork, which is a common and sustainable meat source. This change helped save the monkeys while still keeping the tradition of the dish alive with a new main ingredient.
