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Pernil
![Pernil](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/03/24/dining/22Puertoricanrex3-pernil/merlin_184863150_fdc41442-45cd-4cc2-8585-f3e4dcc57972-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 3 to 4 hours, plus marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 8 to 9large garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- 5teaspoons fresh sour orange juice (or equal parts lime and orange juice)
- 4teaspoons dried oregano
- 8 to 9teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon black pepper
- 1(8- to 9-pound) bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder, preferably with skin covering the entire top layer
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
For the Adobo (see Notes)
For the Pork Shoulder
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the adobo by combining all the ingredients and grinding in a large pilón or mortar and pestle, or simply mixing together well in a small bowl.
- Step 2
Prepare the pork: Rinse and dry meat well with a clean towel. Place pork skin-side down on a large rimmed sheet pan and poke deep, 1-inch holes throughout the meat and in the fatty layer with a paring knife, being careful not to pierce the skin. You can’t have too many holes.
- Step 3
Pour over adobo in batches, using your fingers to push adobo deep into the meat. If you’re worried about your hands smelling like garlic — which they will! — wear gloves.
- Step 4
Set out a long sheet of plastic wrap, layering with subsequent sheets as needed to ensure you can securely wrap the entire pork shoulder. Transfer pork to plastic wrap and wrap tightly, adding sheets of plastic as needed to ensure pork is completely airtight and juices are contained. Let marinate in the fridge overnight if possible, or at least least 2 to 3 hours. Set on a rimmed baking sheet or disposable aluminum foil pan in case it leaks.
- Step 5
Once the pork has marinated, heat oven to 400 degrees. Working over the sink, carefully remove pork from plastic wrap, discarding any remaining adobo. Place the marinated pork shoulder skin-side up in a deep roasting pan, and wipe the skin with a clean cloth. Rub skin with 1 teaspoon salt.
- Step 6
Loosely tent foil over the pork shoulder, spraying the foil with cooking spray or brushing with oil in any areas that may touch the skin, as it will stick. Transfer to the center of the oven.
- Step 7
Roast in the oven for 1 hour, then carefully remove the foil and rotate the pan. Continue roasting for another 2 to 3 hours, rotating every hour or so, and watching closely. Add water to the pan as needed when juices evaporate. The meat is done cooking when the juices run clear and the thickest part of the shoulder registers 160 degrees with a meat thermometer. The skin may take more time to crisp, but watch closely so that it does not burn. Tap the top of the skin with the back of a knife or metal spatula, and listen for a decidedly hollow sound.
- Step 8
Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes, then transfer to a large cutting board. (For cleaning instructions for the pan, see Notes.) If desired, remove the skin from the roast by slicing it along the underside of the bone with a long, sharp, slender knife. Run the knife underneath the skin starting from the bottom until loosened, then lift the skin from the meat. Use kitchen shears to cut into serving pieces, and let them rest in the warm oven until ready to eat. Trim excess fat from the meat if desired, and slice as desired, in large chunks or slices, to serve.
- You can use a smaller or larger pork shoulder, but calculate your adobo accordingly by using the following formula per pound of meat: 1 large garlic clove, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon sour orange juice, ½ teaspoon dried oregano and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper. If using a smaller pork shoulder, you may want to reduce the amount of salt slightly.
- Use a pan that can handle char. You can line your pan with foil, but that can be even messier. When you’re ready to clean, combine ½ cup baking soda and enough hot water to cover the burned spots, and let rest for half an hour. Char should release easily with your abrasive tool of choice.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Egads, what a mess. Skip all the plastic business. Once the pork is prepped, place it in a pan (ceramic works), cover it with the marinade, cover the pot, place in the fridge for however long, and then cook it in the same pot, either in the oven or on the stove. Uncover at the end to crisp the skin in the oven. Can we really imagine rural cooks messing around with yards of plastic wrap and foil pans (not to mention the environment), and the porky mess over the sink area? Keep it simple.
I cook this exactly the same except I do low and slow overnight on 275 degrees for 10-12 hours. Then the last 30 minutes I put on broil to get the skin crispy. Delicious!!
Would it make sense to use a disposable foil pan for this to skip the clean up? Maybe even double them up and cook on a sturdy baking sheet. It sounds heavenly and I'm think this may be the centerpiece for my post-covid family reunion.
It's been my experience that cooking longer @ 300 deg renders a juicier fall-off-the-bone roast. Basically, for an 8-9 lb roast, low & slow for about 6 hours uncovered - no turning (@ 275 deg, even longer). The cartilage "melts" and meat is more tender. I also cut under the skin to separate is on 3 sides when I season it. It will curl a little but it cooks through crispy and delicious. PS I would def use non stick alum foil on the bottom & use a wire rack. Why clean more than you have to?
How does one slow roast on high heat?
Followed the recipe exactly as written, even though in my heart of hearts I knew 400 degrees for three hours plus was insane. Ended up with juice-less, dry meat that really needed more seasoning. I've been roasting pork shoulder about six times a year for over forty years, it is my go to comfort and bad weather food. This is the first time I looked at my plate and said "meh". I'll go back to my 10 hours at 250 degrees. I can wait.
“Slow roasted on high heat” is an oxymoron, no?
Any reasonable dupes for those of us who do not purchase Goya products?
Brought it to friends' house to go with 4 different 2015 Burgundies and it outshone the wine. Host saying it should be done for New Years' Eve instead of his usual tenderloin. I, too, did the low and slow, 300 for 6 hours for an 8-pounder. Save those pan juices! I took the fat cap off and crisped it up some in a 500 degree oven for maybe 10 minutes to add to the cutting board of slabs of pork. Do not skip this, worth the effort. Used supermarket-on-sale pork, too, not heirloom.
Delicious. Very standard(ish) recipe introduced to me by my Puerto Rican Godmother growing up. SOME TIPS: - If you like it, you can also substitute 8 tsps. fresh Cilantro (finely chopped) for Oregano. - Use the full recipe amount regardless of size. It makes very little marinade so no waste or overpowering. Don't adjust for smaller. - If you love garlic, also insert cloves into knife openings. - For added spice, Adobo and Sazon are your friends. - Just use a mini-chopper. - Foil pans rock.
I cook pernil every Christmas and on special occasion/parties. I cook it like with Lots of garlic, oregano, pepper, adobo, Sazón for color and set the temperature at 350 for like 6 hours covered with aluminum foil then I let it cook uncovered to get the skin crunchy. Yum
Skin? Fatty side? Don't pierce skin...what is this....Clarify if the fatty side is down on the pan or up...is the skin side the fatty side or 2 different things...
Use a lobster pot to make marinade of three citrus, olive oil, herbs, spices. Deep crosshatch SCORE the skin. This method Lets the marinade into the meat. Longer marinades yield deeper flavor. 2 days in refrigerator. Roast low & slow uncovered. Bast frequently. Paul Falanga Culinary Institute of America 1978
It's a good question and I understand your confusion! In the pernil recipe, the 'adobo' is the marinade; the containers of dry spices labeled 'adobo' are all-purpose seasoning blends (usually oregano, garlic, cumin, chili). My family is Cuban and our 'adobo' is a marinade, but in various other Spanish speaking countries 'adobo' can be a dry spice blend. Hope this helps!
A pork shoulder roast is a roughly cube-shaped cut. Typically five of the six sides are pinkish flesh with embedded skeins and pockets of white fat. The sixth side has a tough, leathery skin covering a thick layer of creamy fat, which in turn covers the flesh. To poke holes without piercing the skin, position the roast so the skin side is down and the opposite, fleshy side is facing up. Then use a knife to poke holes in the flesh, but don't go all the way through to the skin on the other side.
Outstanding. I made two bone-in pork roast, both around 3 pounds each. Slow roasted at 300 for about 4.5 hours. The meat was so tender and juicy. This is definitely one I’ll pull out again for a crowd-pleasing main dish
Stayed with recipe except for the roasting temp and time since I had all day. Followed the advice in the notes and did lower temp for 8 hours, 425 for the last 15 minutes or so while watching the skin. Skin was crisp, meat was juicy and very tender. Put parchment paper down to protect the pan, worked just fine. Served it with salad and arroz con gandules. Kids and hubby loved it immensely.
Can this recipe be cooked with non pork meat?
Low and slow definitely. I also avoid the plastic wrap and simply marinate the pork for at least 24 hours. While pork is resting, discard some accumulated fat from roasting pan and sauté a lot lot lot of sliced onions till soft but not browned. That’s the Cuban way.
I agree wholeheartedly with BarbA. The astonishinging over-reliance of NYT’s recipes on plastic wrap and aluminum foil lead to wastefulness, mess, and environmental destruction. Marinade the pork in a large bowl, lidded if possible, and turning as needed. And what’s with washing meat? Oy. It’s a dead animal, about to be cooked on high heat, for heaven’s sakes.
This was terrific. It was too hot here to have the oven on for six hours, so I put it in the crock pot, skin side down. It went in cold (after over night marinade in the fridge) and cooked on low for about 9 hours. Leftovers make for a mighty fine Cubano!
The recipe says to discard any remaining adobo after marinating. That seems a huge waste to me. How about saving the adobo and adding a small amount of water to it. When the time comes to add water to the bottom of the cooking vessel, use the adobo-infused water and let the aromatics continue to work on the pork. I'm not a professional cook, but as a novice, this seems like a great way to continue to up the flavor while also keeping the meat moist.
Can you do this with a pork butt rather than a shoulder? Miss the skin but have the flavor.
For marinating (not cooking) large cuts of meat such as the pork shoulder I use Reynolds’s Oven Bags. They hold pieces of meat anywhere from 8# up to 25 #. They are heavy weight and accommodate the large cuts of meat that won’t fit into a zip lock bag.
Also, forget all the wrapping, and put the pork and marinade in a tightly sealed gallon size plastic bag, with the air squeezed out.
Superb recipe. Many comments recommend a lower temperature, in concordance with every other pernil recipe I’ve seen. This one is different, and the spectacularly crisp chicharón is the result. That said, I cannot fathom why the copywriter discouraged a foil lining for the roasting pan. I used heavy-duty foil, rather than plastic wrap, for the roast’s overnight stay in the fridge, then reused the foil to line the pan. Cleanup (including of the char that the recipe warns about) took ten seconds.
1. 300 degrees, not 400 2. Cook for 6 hours, until 160 degrees internal temp 3. Add water to pan regularly 4. Put garlic slivers in holes
We tripled the marinate and marinated for 5 DAYS. Cooked in a roasting pan, on rack, with cover, basting with marinade every hour. Cooked covered inside roaster pan at 400 for 1 hour, 350 for 1 hour, and then reduced heat to 275 until done. At the end, removed the cover and broiled the roast to crisp the skin in the oven. Delicious!
Made this for New Years Eve party and the flavor and crispness of the skin was perfect. The issue was the meat not being tender enough. I would make this again but cook at a much lower temp for longer time. As others have shared low and slow will render the meat tender and you can crisp the skin by broiling at at the end.
I used the juice of a yuzu which has a similar flavor to a sour orange. Agree that wrapping in plastic cling wrap is overkill. I placed it in a pot, covered in cling, and marinated for 2 days. I also cooked it low and slow at about 280 for 5 1/2 hours with the first 3 hours covered in foil, the last 2 1/2 uncovered and a blast of heat at the end. My roast was 5.5 lbs. Excellent. Reserved the drippings for a delicious pan gravy for the second night of leftovers with roast potatoes.
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