Puerto Rican Pernil with Crispy Skin

The traditional centerpiece of the Puerto Rican Christmas Eve (or "Noche Buena") table, is Pernil--a marinated pork shoulder that's roasted slowly in the oven until the meat is tender and the skin on top is crackling and crisp.

All families have their own perfect pernil recipe--the simplest seasoning the pork only with garlic, salt, and oregano. Others use popular store-bought spice mixes (like "adobo Goya") or slightly more complicated marinades, but at the heart of it is a simple roast that requires little effort on your part while the oven does all the work.

The word "pernil" derives from the Spanish word "pierna" or leg. It's also the Catalan word for ham, since the dish was originally prepared using a fresh ham. Pork shoulder, however, is more readily available and affordable, and has since became the more popular cut to use for the dish.

The fattiness of the pork shoulder also lends itself well to the long slow roasting, and turns out a better end product than the ham.

There will always be purists who will argue that a true pernil can't be made with pork shoulder, but I've never seen them turn down a plate of this deliciousness.

When it comes to flavor, I like it bold. I'm not into subtle on my plate (or really in any part of my life), and tend to skip over the ones that just taste like plain roasted pork. I want a good hit of garlic. I want the brightness of cilantro. I want a touch of acid from the citrus.

And damn it...I want there to be enough salt to bring all of those things out!

Growing up, I actually never really liked pernil. It tasted dry and boring to me, and I never understood the rabid enthusiasm other guests felt for it. I always turned it down in favor of the other Puerto Rican dishes on the table--the pasteles and tostones...or maybe just the rum cake.

And then a few years ago, I decided to give it a shot, experimenting with my own versions of the classic recipes. The process is similar to what I do with my Thanksgiving turkey or roast chickens. It's a technique I learned from my mom, and one of the best ways to infuse meat with maximum flavor while preserving moisture.

Here's what I do: I skip the roasting rack and put the pork right down on the pan where the bottom can braise in the flavorful juices.

I make a thick, wet paste of spices and citrus juice with massive amounts of garlic--8 or 10 big cloves. I add a full bunch of cilantro.

I pass the stale store-bought "adobo" spice mixes in favor of fresh individual spices--ground toasted cumin, smokey paprika, dried oregano.

And salt. A teaspoon of kosher salt per pound seems to work about right. 

I also think patience is key. Some pernil recipes only call for 3 or so hours in the oven, but low and slow is best, letting it go 5, 6, even 7 hours. You end up with skin that crackles and meat that is tender, moist, and dripping with dressing. Impressive results that belie the amount of effort it takes.

I serve mine on rice, doused with hot sauce and topped with a pile of quick pickled red onions. The perfect winter meal.

Want more Puerto Rican Christmas recipes? Check out my eCookbook: The Puerto Rican Christmas Table with 40+ recipes and full-color photos. Click here to learn more!
 

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Puerto Rican Pernil Recipe
Serves 7 - 10 people when accompanied with sides

Ingredients
1 5-8lb pork shoulder, bone-in
1 cup sour orange juice (from seville oranges) OR 1 cup tart grapefruit juice OR 1/2 cup each orange and lemon juice
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
8-10 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 1/2 cups chopped cilantro
1 large red bell pepper, seeds and center ribs removed
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons paprika (sweet or smoked spanish)
5-8 teaspoons kosher salt (1 teaspoon per pound of pork)
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 cups water

Directions
Rinse pork shoulder under cold water and then pat very dry. Place skin-side up in a large roasting pan, right on the pan (not on roasting rack). Use a knife to cut slits into the skin and fat.

Combine the orange juice, vinegar, olive oil, onion, garlic, cilantro, red bell pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor and puree into a smooth paste.

Use your hands to rub the pork shoulder with the paste on all sides, pouring into any crevices and into the slits cut in the skin. Use all of the marinade. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let marinate a minimum of 2 hours and up to 2 days.

When ready to cook, remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes to take off some of the chill. Wipe off excess marinade from the skin of pork and pour water into bottom of pan so that it goes up about 2 inches on the side of the pork (leave the extra marinade in the pan).

(Note: depending on the size of your roasting pan, you may need more water--feel free to add as much as you need to get the liquid up to 2" in the pan! You can also use broth or a mix of both.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover roasting pan tightly with foil or pan cover and place in oven on lowest rack to bake for 4 to 7 hours or until very tender. (Smaller roasts cook less when larger roasts take more time. It's very difficult to "overcook" as long as you keep the heat low, the roast covered, and the liquid in the pan--you can even go down to 300 degrees if you want to be safe.)

Once meat is tender, remove foil from pan and let broil about 5 to 10 minutes, or until skin is crisp and crackling.

Transfer pernil to a serving platter.  Serve pernil along with reduced pan juices, and a rice dish such as arroz con gandules, boiled yuca, or plantains

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Cranberry Ropa Vieja

When new friend people come into my life and learn what I do for a living, the next comment is usually something along the lines of "Wow! I wish I could have dinner at your house every night!"

And while I am admittedly an amazing cook (and modest), it's not really the way that people picture it. There usually is something awesome coming out of my kitchen, but it's not always what one would ideally want for dinner.

For example, this past June, I spent a few weeks working on holiday dessert and cocktail recipes for the current issue of Cosmopolitan for Latinas (for which I'm the food & drink writer). Awesome in theory, but the reality is that for about 2 weeks, the only thing I was making was batch-after-batch of things like Puerto Rican bread pudding, arroz con leche, guava pastries, and polvorones.

There were also a lot of Pisco Sours and Mexican Christmas punch.

What there wasn't, was a normal dinner.

"Is there anything to eat besides rice pudding??" Eugene would ask upon arriving from work to find me standing barefoot in the kitchen covered in a light sheen of sweat and powdered sugar.

"No. No there is not."

Exhausted from the day o'baking in 100 degree heat, dinner on those nights was usually a choice between delivery sushi or take-me-out-somewhere.

In other words, probably the same thing YOU had for dinner last night, new friend person!

Something like this happened again this month. Between Sandy, Thanksgiving, my latest Cosmo for Latinas deadline, and the amazing dinner party I hosted for sponsors Foods from Chile (more about that soon!), the meals around here were super irregular.

Think things like bacon egg sandwiches, party leftovers, cucumber salads, and several baguette-and-burrata dinners.

We also went out to eat--a LOT.

So much so that on Monday night, as I started doing that thing I do when I basically jump on Eugene's lap and assault him with kisses until he agrees to take me out to dinner, he agreed (God bless him) with the condition that I would "please cook something real for dinner tomorrow."

So I obliged.

This is my totally not-authentic (please don't kill me if you're Cuban), but still super delicious riff on Ropa Vieja. In Spanish, “Ropa Vieja” means “old clothes,” a reference to the tattered look of this shredded beef stew.

Typically made with a tomato base, I reinvented it for the holidays by using a mix of fresh cranberries and unsweetened cranberry juice as the braising liquid. I kept the traditional flavors of garlic, onion, bay leaves, and cumin, but also tossed in a few cinnamon sticks for a woodsy, spicy twist.

Like most braised dishes (my favorite, favorite style of cooking!), this one is EASY. Just sear the meat, add the ingredients to the pot, and let your stove take over while you busy yourself with other things. It's a great winter weekend dish, and you can double the recipe so that you have easy dinners throughout the rest of the week.

Typically served over white rice, I actually paired this one with my Cinnamon Coconut Couscous for a truly ambiguously ethnic meal.

Buen provecho!

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New to Always Order Dessert? Consider subscribing to my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates by filling in your address in the box on the right. If you're in the NYC area, be sure to check out my NYC dinner party style cooking classes. Thanks for reading!

Cranberry Ropa Vieja Recipe

Ingredients
2lb flank steak, cut in half
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
Cumin
Oil for frying
3 cups fresh cranberries (frozen is OK)
3 cups unsweetened cranberry juice (not cocktail)
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 large yellow onions, quartered
12 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 whole cinnamon sticks (use canela, if available)
1 tablespoon oregano
4 bay leaves
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Prepared white rice or couscous, for serving.

Directions
Pat flank steak dry and season liberally with kosher salt, black pepper, and cumin. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot (such as a Dutch oven) and sear the steaks halves on each side until they develop a crust (about 10 minutes total--you may need to do one at a time). Return the steaks to the pot and add the cranberries, cranberry juice, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cinnamon sticks, oregano, bay leaf, brown sugar, and red wine. The liquid should just cover the meat--if necessary, add the cup of water to bring the level up (you can also use beef broth). Bring to a boil then lower to a very gentle simmer and cover. Let braise on the lowest setting possible for about 3 hours, or until the meat is very tender.

Remove the meat from the pot and use a fork to shred. Remove the cinnamon sticks from the braising liquid and use an immersion blender or regular blender to puree the sauce until it is smooth, then let simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and slightly reduced. Return the shredded meat to the pot and stir in the cranberries. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.

Serve over white rice or couscous.

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Dinner Diaries: Red Wine & Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks

This is actually the second time I've made this dish this Fall, and I'm absolutely smitten. The lamb shanks get so tender that it's nearly impossible to plate them properly as the meat just falls right off the bone.

It's such an easy dish to make, too. And apart from the salt and olive oil, there are only five ingredients: onions, mushrooms, lamb shanks, rosemary, and a bottle of red wine.

When you cook with wine, you're technically supposed to use a good bottle. Something that you would actually drink in a glass along with the dish, and NEVER those horrible "cooking wines" that they sell next to the olive oil and vinegar in the supermarket. But I confess that I used a pretty awful bottle of wine for this. Not cooking wine bad, but still pretty bad. I used a bottle of $5 "Chateau Diana" Cabernet Sauvignon Wine...Product.

Yes, my friends, "wine product."

My friend Moe bought this at Rite-Aid for me the other day as a bad joke. This stuff is so gross. It's a horrifying blend of cheap wine mixed with water, juice, and sugar.

Basically, it's what hobos drink.

It's literally WORSE than Boone's Farm, because while Boone's Farm proudly declares that it's just alcoholic fruit punch made especially for sorority girls, "Chateau Diana" masquerades as real wine. It's got a fancy bottle and a fancy label and a sort-of-fancy name all meant to hide its damaged, trailer park roots. I'm 100% certain that it doesn't even speak French. It's the Holly Golightly of wine.

Amazingly, the lamb still came out heavenly. I probably didn't even have to admit that I used that crap, but I do recommend using a decent bottle when you make it.

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And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!     

Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks
Serves 2, multiply as necessary.

Print this Recipe

Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
2 lamb foreshanks, about 1 pound eachKosher salt
1 yellow onion, diced

8oz mushrooms, sliced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 bottle red wine (such as Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 cup water

Directions
Heat a large, heavy bottom pot (such as a Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Coat bottom of pan with olive oil. Sprinkle salt generously all over the lamb shanks and then brown in the hot oil on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Once completely browned, remove from pot and set on a plate to rest.

Lower the heat to medium. Add the diced onion to the hot oil and saute for 2-3 minutes, just until slightly translucent. Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to saute for 2-3 more minutes. Add the lamb shanks back into the pot. Toss in the sprigs of rosemary. Pour in the entire bottle of red wine. Add one cup water.

Cover the pot with the lid and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Let braise for 2-3 hours, or until the lamb shanks are completely tender and falling off the bone. Remove the lid and gently transfer the lamb shanks to a serving dish to rest. With the lid still off, raise the heat to medium-high, and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally,  until the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Serve lamb topped off with mushrooms and reduced sauce. 

Ideas for sides: sauteed kale, mashed potatoes, sweet potato puree, steamed vegetables

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