Pernil Puertoricano

Ingredients Needed:

1 Bone-In Pork Shoulder (5-10 Pounds depending on how many you want to feed,
5 Pounds will feed 3-4 hungry people)

5-8 Cloves garlic, some chopped, some sliced
Adobo (or a mixture of garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano)

1 Bottle of Sour Orange Marinade (or 2 Oranges and 1 Lime OR 1 Cup OJ and 2 Limes)

1 Large Onion, chopped up
olive oil

SO the night before you cook the meat (or, if you prefer to not let it sit, then the half hour before you cook the meat):

Take your big, delish pork shoulder/butt, place it in a baking dish skin-side up and sprinkle it all over w/ adobo (Goya makes a few versions of this that you can keep in your spice cabinet or you can make your own by sprinkling garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano all over the pork).

WHEN I SAY SPREAD IT ALL OVER I MEAN SPREAD IT ALL OVER. Don’t be afraid of putting on too much.
Cut slices of garlic up from about 3 cloves of garlic - make slices thick-ish. (NOTE: If you have the extra time, make a paste out of your garlic by smashing it in a mortar and pestle w/ a bit of salt to aid in the smashing until it has the consistancy of a spreadable paste.) ****NOTE: This recipe uses alot of garlic b/c we love alot of garlic. If you don’t like the taste of garlic, maybe this recipe isn’t the best for you.

Take a sharp knife (a steak knife should be fine) and make 1-inch wide (1 inch deep or so) slits all over the pork, skin and all. Every time you make a slit, slide in a slice of garlic into the slit. It’s best if the garlic goes into the hole all the way. If it doesn’t, again, don’t worry… just make a bit of a deeper slit next time. (NOTE: If you made the garlic paste, then just slide a bit of the paste in each slit instead of the sliced garlic.)

MAKE MARINADE IN SEPARATE BOWL: Add one cup of sour orange juice (again, Goya makes a bottled version, I’m sure it’s not as tasty as the real ones, but sour oranges aren’t around all the time to buy) to 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 chopped large onion. Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and well as some extra oregano. Mix. (NOTE: You can also substitute sour orange w/ a cup of regular Orange Juice mixed w/ the juice of two limes, or juice of 2 oranges, juice of 1 lime.)

Pour your marinade over your pork. Let sit for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight).
NOW IT’S TIME TO COOK!


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Rub some olive oil over the pork and pork skin.
Put pork in oven, skin-side up, cover w/ aluminum foil and bake for about 4-5 hours, depending on size of pork. (I’d say allow about a half hour per pound in baking time if using bone-in pork - but remember, the best thing about a pork shoulder is that it gets better the longer you cook it. Just don’t burn that skin.)

After about an hour and a half, check how much liquid remains in the pan - add a cup of water to the pan if you are low. Check every 30-45 minutes to make sure the liquid level remains about at least 1/2 ” deep. The pan drippings will mix with this and make a nice gravy.

About 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the aluminum foil to crunch up that delicious pork skin. I would advise to keep looking at the roast after you remove the aluminum foil and when it looks brown and crispy, it’s done. Could be anywhere from 20 -35 minutes.

After you remove the pork from the oven, let it rest for about 15-20 minutes.

Slice it up or shred it with your fork! ENJOY.

Some of the delightful and CHEAP meals you can make with one 10 pound pork shoulder (you can stretch this especially if there’s only 2 or 3 of you eating) are:
shredded pork tacos (add them to some warmed corn or flour tortillas and top w/ your fave toppings)
sliced pernil with a side of black beans and rice
cuban sandwiches (slice up some pernil, add it to some thick, Cuban bread with some swiss cheese, mustard and thinly sliced pickles)
tomato, corn and shredded pernil rice baked with cheese .