Lately, I’ve found myself spending more and more of my weekends trying out new recipes in the kitchen - and this one was perfect for this rainy weekend. The last couple of friend’s pot-luck brunch’s at Charlie and Jose’s, Charlie has effortlessly whipped together a Pernil that has been slow roasted for 5 hours.
Not to be outdone, I decided to tackle her recipe myself! (And by myself I mean under the watchful eye of Daniel who previously tried this out 😬). This Pernil was also an excellent dish for my #nextover plans for the week.
I won’t lie, my favorite part of this recipe is the crispy pork skin that is the by-product of the long slow roast. It’s a perfect snack for the table over a beer or cocktail! The other part was the excuse to go to a new carneceria - this time Northgate Market in City Heights. I also scored on some great fresh produce for my avocado & tomatillo salsa!
Recipe
- 8-9 lb bone in, skin on pork shoulder.
- 6-8 cloves of garlic
- 2 packets of Sazon seasoning
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or braising liquid
- 2 bay leaves
- Olive Oil
- 1 large dry chili
- Place pork shoulder, skin side up on a rack in a large roasting pan. Score fat in a diagonal pattern. Dig holes throughout the top and sides of the pork shoulder just large enough to fit cloves of garlic in. Shove the garlic into the holes, making sure the garlic is not exposed so it doesn’t burn during roasting.
- Rub pork shoulder with olive oil then season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle sazon packets and rub into the pork shoulder.
- Into the roasting pan add the chicken stock, bay leaves, and chili. Make sure the bay leaves and chili are in contact with the braising liquid (underneath the roasting rack).
- Put roast into a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 4 hours. After four hours increase temperature to 375 for 40-60 minutes or until the skin is golden crispy and an instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees.
- Remove from oven and allow to rest, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes or so, use kitchen scissors to cut skin off in 1-2 inch pieces. Careful, it’ll be warm still!
- Once skin is removed, pull pork off the bone or slice into 1-2 inch thick sections.
- Use what you need for dinner, and reuse the rest of the meat in the next couple of meals!
