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My Mami's Puerco Asado (Roast Pork)

by Chef Ana Pozo · Inspired With A Twist

Whole puerco asado roast pork shoulder resting on crinkled parchment on a wooden surface

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

  1. Clean the pernil by putting it in water and apple cider vinegar for about 20 min (optional).
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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)
  8. Remove from the oven and squeeze lime juice all over the pernil while it’s still hot.
  9. At this point you can shred it, slice it, chop it. We personally chop and shred and mix it with the leftover juices.
  10. Enjoy!