Are you someone who loves to have some Roasted Pork on the weekends? Just imagine; red crusty yet tender pork, lined up with a party mocktail and rice. Seems good? Here is a good Puerto Rican Pernil recipe.
We have curated this recipe just for you so that you can have a taste of the Dominican cuisine at the comfort of your own home. Moreover, if you love Pork, this dish will satisfy your craving with its sweet and sour taste. Without further ado, let us jump right into the recipe right now.
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How To Make Puerto Rican Pernil? A Detailed Guide Including Pernil In English
Pernil is basically a pork roast, mostly the pork shoulder, which needs to be cooked slowly enough. In the Dominican Republic, people usually enjoy this dish while they are out partying on the weekends. Although there are other variants, for example, the Cuban one, we will mainly look at the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe today. The red crispy pork outer topping makes this an instant hit at most of the parties. However, if you are considering full time taken, you need 7 hours to achieve the perfect roast.
Ingredients We Need For This:
● Boneless Pork Shoulder, considerably 7.5 pounds of it. This is the main ingredient of the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe
● 12 Garlic Cloves, which you must keep minced properly before adding to the bowl
● 2 to 3 teaspoons of Adobo Seasoning, the canned powders can be found almost in any grocery store
● 1/3 cup of Canola Oil, or simple Vegetable Oil for the extra red crisp
● Fresh Oregano Leaves, for seasoning and increasing the aroma in the roast
● 1 teaspoon of Kosher Salt to add taste o the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe
● Half teaspoon of Black Pepper, all freshly ground beforehand
● 1 tablespoon of Dry Oregano for using as seasoning in the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe
● 1 tablespoon of Paprika to add a bit of colour and spice all together in the dish
● Fresh Citrus Juice, a mixture of 1 orange and 2 lemons
Best Puerto Rican Pernil Recipe: A Step-by-step Guide For You
Firstly, focus on the fatty part of the Pork Shoulder and score it in a hatch way. Use a sharp knife and meticulously cut into the surface of the meat. Focus to make a cut in four quarters. Gradually, make about 20 cuts, all of them at least 1 inches deep into the meat. Then, we need a shallow baking pan so that we have enough space around, even with the pork in it.
Secondly, take a medium glass bowl, where we will prepare the coating mixture for the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe. Start by adding the Canola Oil first. Then, add salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. While mixing it slowly, pour in the Adobo and lastly, finish with adding the dry Oregano. Once you have mixed properly, take a brush in your hand.
Afterwards, rub this mixture all over the pork shoulder. Use the brush carefully, so that the mixture drips into the slits properly as well. Cover it with foil, keep it in the freezer for the night, and come back tomorrow. Bring it out at least an hour prior to the cooking. We need to preheat our oven exactly at 300°F first.
Then, start baking the pork for at least 3 hours. Turn the oven off, remove the foil, and bake it for 4 hours. This is a vital step for the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe to make the meat tender enough to just fall apart. Just in case you love a crusty pork outer layer, turn up the heat to 360°F and bake for 30 minutes.
Finally, take the Pernil out of your oven, and let it cool down for a bit. Please use a clean fork to hold it and pull out all the tender meat in chunks. Drizzle with the mixed citrus juice and serve the Pernil with salt and pepper seasoning.
Key Takeaways:
Unless you love to stick to your diet plans even in the weekends, you are going to love this recipe. Only one serving of the Pernil De Cerdo has 360 Kcal in it. Due to the high volume of fatty pork, the dish has 33 gm protein and 24 gm fat per serving. But one thing for sure, you will need a lot of time to fully cook this dish. If you do it correctly, the Puerto Rican Pernil recipe takes a total of 6.5 hours to be ready.
With the amount of ingredients we have used here, this recipe is enough to serve 7 to 8 people easily. You can grab yourself a nice alcoholic beverage with this. If you want to have a meal, just have this Puerto Rican Pernil with sweet plantains, rice and beans, or a simple salad. Moreover, if you can, just have a meat reading thermometer in hand for this.
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