PORK PERNIL

PORK PERNIL image

Categories Pork

Yield 8-10 Servings

Number Of Ingredients 15

Ingredients

America's Test Kitchen
Pork Pernil
From Cook's Country \| August/September 2013
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Pernil is a Puerto Rican dish of heavily seasoned, long-cooked pork with supremely crispy skin. We use a bone-in pork picnic shoulder, which is more widely available than a fresh ham, and rub it with a flavorful herb and spice paste called a sofrito.
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems
1 onion, chopped coarse
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 (7-pound) bone-in pork picnic shoulder
1 tablespoon grated lime zest plus 1/3 cup juice (3 limes)

Steps:

1. Pulse 1 c cilantro, onion, salt, oil, garlic, pepper, oregano, and cumin in food processor until finely ground, about 15 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Pat pork dry with paper towels and rub sofrito all over. Wrap pork in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hrs. 2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 450. Pour 8 c water in lge roasting pan. Unwrap pork and place skin side down in pan. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and roast for 90 min. Remove foil, reduce oven temperature to 375, continue to roast for 2½ hrs. 3. Remove pan from oven. Spray V-rack with vegetable oil spray. Gently slide metal spatula under pork to release skin from pan. Using folded dish towels, grasp ends of pork and transfer to V-rack, skin side up. Wipe skin dry with paper towels. Place V-rack with pork in roasting pan. If pan looks dry, add 1 c water. Return to oven and roast until pork registers 195 degrees, about 1 hr. (Add water as needed to keep bottom of pan from drying out.) 4. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Remove pan from oven. Transfer V-rack and pork to prepared sheet and return to oven. Immediately increase oven temperature to 500. Cook until pork skin is well browned and crispy (when tapped lightly with tongs, skin will sound hollow), 15 to 30 min, rotating sheet halfway through cooking. Transfer pork to carving board and let rest for 30 min. 5. Meanwhile, pour juices from pan into fat separator. Let liquid settle for 5 min, then pour off 1 c defatted juices into large bowl. (If juices measure less than 1 c, make up difference with water.) Whisk remaining ½ c cilantro and lime zest and juice into bowl. 6. Remove crispy skin from pork in 1 large piece. Coarsely chop skin into bite-size pieces and set aside. Trim and discard excess fat from pork. Remove pork from bone and chop coarse. Transfer pork to bowl with cilantro-lime sauce and toss to combine. Serve pork, with crispy skin on side.