HOUSTON – The Caribbean islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic share in their cuisine their love for pernil or pork shoulder roast, a dish eaten for celebrations, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And even though the cooking time is five hours, the recipe so delicious that it's worth the wait.
Chef Christofer Dilan from Sofrito restaurant in Garden Oaks is showing us how to do the recipe in a traditional Cuban-style way.
Cuban style roast pernil
Ingredients:
• One 14-15 pound bone-in pork shoulder roast
• 1 Tablespoon of salt per pound of pork
• 1/3 Cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ Cup olive oil
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Green Onions
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• 1 Tablespoon black pepper
• 17 Garlic Cloves
Directions:
Slice 10 garlic cloves and set aside. In a wooden mortar & pestle or a blender, grind up all the other ingredients to create the rub mixture. Use a knife to peel away the fat from the shoulder, without completely separating them. Stab or slice holes into the shoulder meat.
Take small spoonfuls of rub and insert them into the holes, and stick in an extra slice of garlic.
Put the fat back into place and rub remaining mixture on the outside of the fat.
Place the pork in a roasting pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and cover it with an aluminum foil tent, so that the foil does not touch the rub. Place this in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 300 F. The pan should sit in the oven as high as it can. Put the pernil in the oven for 1 ½ hours and rotate the pan. Cook another 1 ½ hours and rotate the pan again.
Cook another hour, then remove the foil, turn the temperature up to 350-400 and cook for the final hour.
Recipe provided by: Christofer Dilan from Sofrito Restaurant.