Pavochon, a Puerto Rican Thanksgiving favorite, is a dish that represents the best of “Spanglish creations,”  as recipe creator Illyanna Maisonet calls them. Combining the flavors of traditional holiday Puerto Rican lechón – whole-roasted suckling pig – with the Thanksgiving centerpiece, turkey – pavo in Spanish – is where this dish gets its name. 

Illyanna is a Puerto Rican food writer and chef whose first cookbook, Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook, is a beautiful look at the food that’s grown out of the Puerto Rican diaspora, including pavochon. As the nation’s first Puerto Rican food columnist, she cares deeply about documenting and preserving the island’s cuisine. 

While roasted pigs marinated in oregano, sazón, and citrus are a holiday tradition in Puerto Rico, the introduction of turkey to the table is “definitely North American, one of the few favorable things that came out of colonialism,” Illyanna wrote for Bon Appetit. 

Illyanna grew up eating a version of pavochon that her Nana made. The fusion of the two dishes adds flavor to the turkey – “there’s no such thing as bland in a Puerto Rican household” – and is admittedly a little easier compared to cooking an entire hog on a spit. Olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, adobo and sazón get rubbed on the inside and the outside of the skin, making sure there’s deliciousness in every nook and cranny well before the meat is slow roasted with direct flame. 

If you’re new to Puerto Rican flavors, adobo and sazón are spice blends that are often used. Both vary slightly from family to family and brand to brand, but there are a few common staples. In adobo, expect to find a combination of garlic, black pepper, oregano, turmeric and cumin, whereas sazón includes coriander, cumin, achiote, oregano and pepper. Illyanna has her own blends at Burlap & Barrel that are available online, and if you’re shopping at your local grocery store, we recommend Goya blends. 

There are a few techniques you’ll need to master for this recipe when it comes to spatchcocking and fire maintenance. We’ve got guidance for both below, and Illyanna will walk you through the steps of how to spatchcock, a process of removing the backbone of a whole chicken so that it lays flat, resulting in a juicier turkey. 

Our first tip? If you’ve got kitchen shears, grab ‘em now, and be sure to prep the night before you cook to give the marinade time to infuse flavor.