My mami's puerco asado (Roast pork)
Puerco (Pernil) Asado is the dish that symbolizes Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any special holiday. It is the centerpiece and the most important dish on the holiday table. Turkey rarely makes an appearance at a Dominican’s Thanksgiving meal and for good reason. This is my moms special way of making our favorite dish and I hope you love it as much as my family does!
My mami's pernil asado (Roast pork)
Ingredients:
pork shoulder, we had a 7 lb shoulder
oil- canola, olive
bell peppers, Red and green, cut
aji dulce, 4-5 —if you don’t find it, substitute a sweet pepper
naranja agria, one bottle
mojo marinade, one bottle
lime juice from 2 limes, plus extra for serving
cilnatro, one bunch
culantro, one bunch
dominican oregano
lemon pepper seasoning
sazon completo
red onion, whole
1 small bottle of coke, not pepsi.
S + P
Instructions:
Clean the pernil by putting it in water and apple cider vinegar for about 20 min (optional).
After, take it out and place it in a roasting pan and poke holes all over the pernil using a cross method to get small to medium holes
Massage the naranja agria, mojo, sazon completo, dominican oregano. lemon pepper, about 2 tbsp of salt and lime juice into the pernil, making sure all parts of the pernil are coated. for my 7 lb pernil, we used about 1 1/2 cups of narnaja agria, the juice from 2 limes, about 1 cup of mojo, about 3 tbsp each of dominican oregano and sazon completo. Let it sit while we make the marinade.
To make the marinade, add all the peppers, cilantro, culantro, onion, all the garlic along with olive oil( about 1/4 cup) and the naranja agria( 1/4 cup) to a food processor and blend until it all comes together.
Season pernil thoroughly using the marinade. Be sure to massage the marinade into the holes. Make sure you season it EVERYWHERE. Let the pernil sit for a minimum of 3 hours to overnight. I’ve seasoned pernil and let it sit in the fridge for a day 1/2 and it was incredible.
When you’re ready to cook it. place the pernil in an oven safe bag inside of a roasting tray and roast for 4 hours on 300.
Turn the oven to 425 Remove it from the oven and the oven safe bag (discard the bag) and pour the coke all over the pernil. don’t use all the coke, just enough to coat the pernil in and mix with the juices from the marinade. Put it back in the oven (always skin side up) and continue cooking until the skin is crispy( it took like 40 minutes for us)
Remove from the oven and squeeze lime juice all over the pernil while its still hot.
At this point you can shred it, slice it, chop it. we personally chop and shred and mix it with the leftover juices.
Enjoy!
