Pernil Recipe (Puerto Rican Roast Pork)
Directions
- 1Combine the sofrito, oregano, garlic powder, coriander, onion powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
- 2Stir in the olive oil and mix well. Set aside for now.
- 3Cut various slits into the pork and stuff the garlic slices into them.
- 4Rub down the pork shoulder with the prepared marinade.
- 5Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour; overnight or up to 2 days is better for more flavor.
- 6Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
- 7Transfer the pork shoulder to the bottom of a roasting pan or large baking dish, skin side up.
- 8Wipe the skin clean of any marinade and excess moisture to help with crispy skin.
- 9Pour 1 cup water and 1 cup sour orange juice into the bottom of the roasting pan.
- 10Cover the pan with foil, leaving no gaps.
- 11Bake the pork shoulder for 3 hours.
- 12Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
- 13Rotate the roasting pan around for even cooking and remove the foil.
- 14Pat the skin dry with a paper towel.
- 15Add 1-2 cups additional water/sour orange if the bottom is too dry.
- 16Bake for 1-2 hours or longer, until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 210 degrees F when measured with a meat thermometer, or when a skewer can pierce the meat easily.
- 17If cooking with skin-on, if the skin is not crispy, turn up the oven temperature to 500 degrees F and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the skin is browned and crispy.
- 18Remove from heat and rest for 20 minutes.
- 19Carve and serve the pork.
- 20For serving, drain the drippings from the roasting pan into a bowl and skim the fat.
- 21Stir in vinegar and chopped cilantro.
- 22Add salt to taste.
- 23Serve the sauce with the finished pork as a dipping sauce or gravy.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons sofrito
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- to taste Salt and pepper
- 0.5 cup olive oil
- 4 pound pork shoulder bone-in, skin on – Or you can use boneless – see recipe notes
- 8 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 cup sour orange juice (or use an equal mix of orange juice and lime juice)
- 1 cup water (or more as needed)
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 0.5 cup cilantro chopped
Equipment
large bowlroasting panlarge baking dishfoilpaper towelmeat thermometercutting board
Tips
- To get the best crispy skin (cuero), use skin-on pork and dry the skin thoroughly before roasting. Raise the temperature at the end of roasting, uncovered, to ensure a crunchy outer crust. Mix the crispy skin into the served pork.
- Pernil can be made with boneless pork, following the same steps but without the extra roasting time for skin crisping.
- For seasoning options, you can use 5-6 tablespoons of Adobo seasoning or Sazon seasoning in place of the individual spices.
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