Printable Area
Pernil
Recipe courtesy Mark Bittman
- Total Time:
- 3 hr 25 min
- Prep:
- 10 min |
- Inactive Prep:
- 15 min |
- Cook:
- 3 hr
- Level:
- Intermediate
- Yield:
- At least 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 (4- to 7-pound) pork shoulder or use fresh ham
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 4 or more cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chile powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil, as needed
- 1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar
- Lime wedges, for serving
Directions
Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Score meat's skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern. Pulse onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, chile, salt, and pepper together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty. Alternatively, mash ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Blend in the vinegar.
Rub this mixture well into pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Put pork in a roasting pan and film bottom with water. Roast pork for several hours, a 4-pound shoulder may be done in 3 hours, turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender. Finish roasting with the skin-side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking, if necessary.
Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be so tender that cutting it into uniform slices is almost impossible; rather, whack it up into chunks. Serve with lime.