Pernil (Puerto Rican Roast Pork Shoulder)

Method

1. Pat the pork thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. With a sharp knife, score the skin in a 2 cm criss-cross pattern, cutting through the skin and fat but not into the meat. On the exposed meat, stab deep holes about 2 cm deep and 3 cm apart with the tip of the knife; the marinade will go into these.

   Add in this stepPork shoulder, skin on, in one piece (bone-in if possible) 800 g

2. In a mortar, pound the garlic with most of the salt to a smooth paste, then add the pepper, oregano and cumin and pound again. Stir in the olive oil and vinegar to make a thick adobo. No mortar? Grate or very finely mince the garlic and mix everything in a bowl.

   Add in this stepGarlic cloves 7Coarse salt 1.6 tspGround black pepper ½ tspDried oregano 1 tspGround cumin ¼ tspExtra virgin olive oil 2 tbspWhite vinegar 2 tbsp

3. Push the adobo into the holes with your fingers and rub it all over the meat. Keep the marinade off the skin: leave the skin dry and simply sprinkle it evenly with the remaining salt. Put the pork skin side up in a container, cover and refrigerate for 12 h (overnight). Take it out 1 hour before roasting. Wash your hands and tools right after handling raw pork.

   Add in this stepCoarse salt 0.4 tsp

4. Preheat the oven to 160 °C (oven). Put the pork skin side up in a 25×20 cm roasting dish and pour the water into the bottom (not over the skin). Cover with foil and roast for 1 h 50 min.

   Add in this stepWater (for the pan) 150 ml

   oven

5. Remove the foil and roast for 40 min more, until a fork slides in easily and the meat pulls apart along the grain. If you have a thermometer, around 90 °C in the thickest part means pull-apart tender (it must reach at least 71 °C to be safe). If the pan juices dry out and start to burn, add a splash of water.

6. Turn the oven up to 230 °C (oven) and roast for 15 min more, until the skin puffs up and crackles (this crisp skin is called cuerito). Watch closely in the last 5 minutes and take it out as soon as any spots start to blacken.

   oven

7. Move the pork to a board and rest it for 15 min so the juices settle back into the meat. Break the crackling into pieces, pull or slice the meat and spoon over the pan juices. For the classic plate, serve with rice, arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) and fried plantains.