8 lbs picnic pork shoulder
12 minced garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 Tbsp Adobe Seasoning
6 teaspoons salt (or 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of meat if you are using a smaller cut of meat)
Directions:
- Wash the pork shoulder.
- With a sharp knife, make 1 inch deep cuts into the pork.
- In a blender, make a paste with all of the above ingredients
- Spoon some of the garlic mixture inside the small cuts around the pork, and spread remaining mixture all over the pork.
- Place pork in an aluminum turkey pan (skin side up); cover with aluminum foil tightly. Refrigerate at least 8 hours. (I have marinated this for as long as two days.).
Cooking
- In a roasting pan, place pork fat side up, place pork in a roasting pan along with the rest of the marinade.
- Add a bit of liquid if necessary ( vinegar, water and some chicken stock) – so it comes up about 1/2 an inch high. Make sure there’s always some hot liquid at the bottom to mix with the drippings. (This is not necessary – I just liked it this way).
- Heat the oven to 475 degrees and cook pork uncovered for 1 hour.
- After the hour is over, turn oven down to 275 degrees, tent pork with some tin-foil and cook for 8 to 9 hours on this low setting. (You want to cook the pernil for an hour to 1 1/2 hours per pound
- Don’t forget to remove the foil from the top of your pork about 30-40 minutes before your done cooking it. This will crisp up your pork skin only so much. If you are looking to make chicharron by removing the top layer of skin after it’s been cooked (as I did – see first picture, top of post) and frying it up a bit.
- Allow to rest for 15 minutes to a half hour before slicing and serving. ENJOY.
