Chifrijo Is The Latin American Pork Dish That Comes Together With A Few Staple Ingredients

Drinking cultures around the globe all have their own favorite bar snack to accompany a cocktail or a cold beer. In Costa Rica, chifrijo is the decadent snack to soak up alcohol and share with fellow bargoers. A combination of the Spanish words for pork belly (chicharron) and frijol (bean), chifrijo utilizes Costa Rican staple ingredients to create a cooked snack bowl of black or kidney beans and chunks of marinated fried pork belly.

Pork and beans are a well-known and delicious flavor combo; consider the chunks of bacon or ham hocks in charro beans or baked beans. Rice and beans are the foundation of Costa Rican cuisine, usually blended into a side dish known as gallo pinto. Chicharrones are pan-fried or deep fried chunks of pork belly marinated in garlic, salt, and lime or orange juice. Pork is a major staple in Costa Rica, with many restaurants known as Chichonerias offering a menu of only pork products. Chifrijo is essentially a smaller portion of a common dinner or lunch plate, served in the same bowl. The beans go in first, followed by a topping of crispy yet ultra-meaty and umami-rich chicharron.

For color and a zesty, tangy complement to cut through the savoriness of the pork and beans, chifrijo is garnished with pico de gallo, sliced avocado, and pickled veggies, and served with a side of tortilla chips.

Chifrijo is known as a "boca" or snack in Costa Rica and enjoyed at bars or "cantones" as well as restaurants and even hotels around the republic as an appetizer. Now, many chifrijos also come with white rice. Other varieties feature fish or other pork products like pork skin. 

While it's now a national treasure, chifrijo is a fairly new specialty, appearing at various bars in and around the capital city of San Jose during the 1990s. However, Cordero's Bar owner and proclaimed inventor Miguel Cordero says he created the dish back in 1979. In an attempt to satiate his hunger, Cordero scrounged bits and pieces from leftover beans and a slab of pork belly from the kitchen of his restaurant. He heated the beans while he diced the chicharron into bite-sized pieces and threw them into the deep fryer. He threw everything into a snack-sized bowl and topped it with freshly made pico de gallo.

The cook and Cordero's family members were impressed with his creation and encouraged him to write down the recipe and name it. According to Cordero, the "chi" in chifrijo refers not just to chicharron, but also "chile" and "chimichurri." Not to be confused with the green, vinegary chimichurri in Argentina, Costa Ricans use the term for pico de gallo.