Pernil

I've been preparing for the holidays with family, I'm Puerto Rican so in true holiday fashion I've have been stuffing myself with Pernil (translation: roast pork). Traditionally we marinate the pork shoulder for 1- 3 days. My grandmother taught me how to make a pernil a couple of years ago but I have tweaked her recipe slightly.

Pernil

• 4 ½ -7 pounds bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder roast (depending on how many you want to feed, 5 Pounds will feed 4-5 hungry people)
• Wet Adobo
• Sazon (Goya con Cilantro y Achiote)
• 1 Cup of Sour Orange Marinade (You can find a Goya brand at the supermarket)

1. Up to 3 days before you serve the roast, set the roast in a bowl skin side up. With a paring or boning knife, make several slits about 1½ inches wide through the skin of the roast and into the meat. Make the slits as deep as you can. Wiggle a finger in the slits to open them up a bit, then fill each with wet adobo, using a teaspoon. Turn the roast over and do the same to all sides. If you have adobo left over, rub it all over the outside of the roast. Rub Sazon all over pork. This will give the pork that great golden reddish tint. Finish by pouring Sour Orange marinade over Pork. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 day or up to 3 days. Turn occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. 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 .)
4. 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.
5. About 30-45 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the aluminum foil to crunch up that delicious pork skin. Continue to check the pork –you want to make the skin crunchy not burnt.
6. After you remove the pork from the oven, let it rest for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Slice it up or shred it with your fork!

*A good rule of thumb for roasting pork is to cook the roast half an hour for every pound.

Wet Adobo

12 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 ½ tablespoon fine sea or kosher salt

1 tablespoon coarse black pepper

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Makes about ½ cup

Pound the garlic cloves and salt to a paste using a mortar and pestle (I get old school with it). Add the peppercorn and oregano, pounding well after each one to incorporate them into the paste. Stir the oil and vinegar.