| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 13 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 8 hr |
| Cook: | 5 hr |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups orange juice, divided
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 (8 to 9-pound) picnic-cut, bone-in pork shoulder
- Water, as needed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the orange juice with the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, ancho chili powder, black pepper and 1 teaspoon of the salt to form a paste. Set aside.
- Wash the pork shoulder and pat the meat dry with a paper towel.
- Put the shoulder, fat side up, on a cutting board. Leaving the fat in a single piece and attached at 1 end, use a knife to remove the layer of fat from the shoulder, opening it like a book to reveal the meat. Then, use the knife to poke 1-inch deep holes into the meat on all sides. Rub the spice paste around the shoulder, working it into the punctures. Return the fat back to its original position. Score the fat with diagonal cuts and sprinkle the remaining salt over both sides of fat. Wrap the shoulder tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 8 hours or overnight.
- Remove the pork from the refrigerator 1 hour before you start cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Pour the remaining orange juice into a roasting pan. Unwrap the pork from the plastic and put it in the pan, fat side up. Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Roast for 3 hours and 45 minutes longer. If the orange juice dries up during the cooking process, add in more juice or water. Serve when the internal temperature of the pork reaches 185 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. The meat should pull away with the prick of a fork and the skin is crispy. Remove the meat from the oven to a cutting board and let rest for 20 minutes, under a tent of aluminum foil, before serving. Slice the meat, arrange it on a serving platter and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 935 |
| Total Fat | 70 g |
| Saturated Fat | 23 g |
| Carbohydrates | 8 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 257 mg |
| Sodium | 683 mg |
Reviews
As a Puerto Rican, myself, this is not Pernil. This is a recipe for puerco pibil, which is a Yucatan recipe, Pernil doesn’t have any orange juice or any ancho chiles, or any of the other ingredients used for the marinade in this recipe. You can google Puerto pibil to double check. Pernil uses sofrito, adobo, sazon, oregano, black pepper, and olive oil. I’m sadly disappointed that Food Network posted a Mexican recipe in place of a Puerto Rican recipe.
I absolutely love this recipe. I have made this many times and my family loves it too. I followed the recipe exactly in the beginning and it was a hit. The more I made it the more garlic I would use because we are garlic lovers! I serve it with black beans and rice, corn on the Cobb, tossed salad and corn bread. Delicious!
Delicious
calle de los pinos means street of pine trees. Pernil is pronounced as it is read. The L in Spanish is sharp and cuts off the i. per (short rolled r) nil (sharp l as in ‘love’), not Beneen.
Great recipe for a very tasty meal!
DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just like moms
This is an absolutely delicious recipe! Sunny Thank you , because it was a hit.. more then that it was super scrumptious!! Love You Girl!
I’ve tried this recipe and Tyler’s and have compared them to traditional PR pernil. This is a cuban variant that tasted good, but I can honestly tell you that Tyler’s is more authentic. Just cook it at 250 for 1 hour per pound to get it to fall apart and be amazingly crisp on the outside. It takes longer this way, but you will find it very hard to go back to higher temps once you taste the difference.
Use Tyler’s recipe and throw in a smidge of OJ, lime juice and cumin if you want change it up. Use a mild or spicy Cajun rub in place of some of the salt if you’d like a slightly more South/Southwest flavor.
The last time I made Pernil I used Tyler’s recipe but liked Sunny’s take and thought to give it a shot. I have a lot of Puerto Rican friends and relatives and could never make it just like theirs so I thought this may be the one. I always thought Pernil was more of a pulled pork, not sliced. Was very disappointed especially with all the time and energy it took (plus my roasting pan was messed up afterwards. I still love ya Sunny but I think I just might stick with Tyler’s recipe next time.