Low and Slow - Even More Succulent Pernil, But Only If You Have the Time!

Jan 19th, 2008 by Amy

Many, many moons ago, I published my recipe for pernil, the delicious Puerto Rican roasted pork butt/shoulder. Recently, I had a whole Saturday afternoon to try a longer and slower cooking method for my bone-in pork butt. I have to tell you, if you have the time I would advise cooking it this way as you will have meat absolutely dripping moist and falling off the bone. The quicker method in my earlier recipe is a very good way of cooking the pork if you don’t have 8-9 hours to kill waiting to tear into the pernil. But, if you do remember to put your pork in by 11AM, you will not be disappointed by the results of low and slow cooking.

I am cutting and pasting the old pernil recipe here and adding my alternative “Low and Slow” cooking time. I hope you’ll give it a shot – and let me know what you think! Remember to allow your pernil to marinate overnight for the best results!!

PERNIL (ROASTED PORK SHOULDER) COOKED SLOW AND LOW

Ingredients:

1 Bone-In Pork Shoulder (5-10 Pounds depending on how many you want to feed, 5 Pounds will feed 4-5 hungry people)

5-8 Cloves garlic, some chopped, some sliced

Adobo (or a mixture of garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano)

1 Bottle of Sour Orange Marinade (or 2 Oranges and 1 Lime OR 1 Cup OJ and 2 Limes)

1 Large Onion, chopped up

olive oil

SO the night before you cook the meat (or, if you prefer to not let it sit, then the half hour before you cook the meat):

What to do for the marinade:

Take your big-ass, delish pork shoulder/butt, place it in a baking dish skin-side up and sprinkle it all over w/ adobo (Goya makes a few versions of this that you can keep in your spice cabinet or you can make your own by sprinkling garlic power, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and oregano all over the pork). WHEN I SAY SPREAD IT ALL OVER I MEAN SPREAD IT ALL OVER. Don’t be afraid of putting on too much.
Cut slices of garlic up from about 3 cloves of garlic – make slices thick-ish. (NOTE: If you have the extra time, make a paste out of your garlic by smashing it in a mortar and pestle w/ a bit of salt to aid in the smashing until it has the consistancy of a spreadable paste.) ****NOTE: This recipe uses alot of garlic b/c we love alot of garlic. If you don’t like the taste of garlic, maybe this recipe isn’t the best for you.
Take a sharp knife (a steak knife should be fine) and make 1-inch wide (1 inch deep or so) slits all over the pork, skin and all. Every time you make a slit, slide in a slice of garlic into the slit. It’s best if the garlic goes into the hole all the way. If it doesn’t, again, don’t worry… just make a bit of a deeper slit next time. (NOTE: If you made the garlic paste, then just slide a bit of the paste in each slit instead of the sliced garlic.)
MAKE MARINADE IN SEPARATE BOWL: Add one cup of sour orange juice (again, Goya makes a bottled version, I’m sure it’s not as tasty as the real ones, but sour oranges aren’t around all the time to buy) to 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 chopped large onion. Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and well as some extra oregano. Mix. (NOTE: You can also substitute sour orange w/ a cup of regular Orange Juice mixed w/ the juice of two limes, or juice of 2 oranges, juice of 1 lime.)
Pour your marinade over your pork. Let sit for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight).

Cooking the Pernil:

Fat side up, place pork in a roasting pan along with the rest of the marinade. Add a bit of liquid if necessary (water or 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. (Instead of the quicker cooking of pernil where I recommend a 1/2 hour per pound, this time it’s about an hour or more 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.

REMEMBER, YOU CAN NOT OVERCOOK PERNIL IF YOU DO IT LOW AND SLOW. THE FAT BASTES THE CHEAP AND OTHERWISE TOUGH CUT OF PORK SO DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT!

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23 Responses to “Low and Slow – Even More Succulent Pernil, But Only If You Have the Time!”

on 20 Jan 2008 at 11:31 am1nika

Looks fantastic! I am thinking about making this again, perfect any time of year but sounds even more delish in the cold days here FAR from sunny south america.
on 20 Jan 2008 at 11:40 am2Jonathan

Thanks, Nika! I love your site (adding to blogroll now). And thank you so much for allowing me to spread the word of your delicious chicharron recipe! Now I just gotta get my hands on some pork belly and really do it up!
on 21 Jan 2008 at 8:27 pm3Kevin

That roast pork dinner looks so good! I looks nice and moist and tasty.
on 06 Apr 2008 at 3:02 pm4Getting 6 Meals out of $5 - Italian Style Roasted Pork Shoulder with Salsa Verde and Creamy Risotto | We Are Never Full

[...] – one a quicker way where it was roasted at a higher temperature, but for a shorter time and the other cooked at a low temp for a long period of time. After my taste-test, I realized that I will probably make pork shoulder the low and slow way [...]
on 10 Apr 2008 at 8:15 am5Shana

I tried this recipe last Friday (and made 2 shoulders)… I substituted the sour oranges for a sour orange marinade and I have to say this is one of the best pernil recipes I’ve ever tried!!!!!! I had to feed a croud and everyone loved it!!!!

Thanks so much! I will definitely use this recipe again!!!!!
on 17 Apr 2008 at 9:22 am6Cuban Sandwiches: The Best Way to Eat Up Leftovers | We Are Never Full

[...] regular readers will know, we are obsessed with pork, especially roasted pork, so while we’ve yet to make any more than the briefest foray into Cuban food, we definitely [...]
on 31 Dec 2008 at 1:41 pm7Pulpo a la Gallega: Pride of Galicia | We Are Never Full

[...] Pernil (Roasted Pork Shoulder): Low and Slow [...]
on 18 Jan 2009 at 1:29 pm8lynn

I just popped this in the oven! Can’t wait…even my fingers smell delicious!
on 18 Jan 2009 at 7:30 pm9admin

excellent! please let us know how it goes, lynn. it’s a perfect day for some pernil!
on 07 Feb 2009 at 4:29 pm10Not For Vegetarians - Top 5 Pork Products Winner | We Are Never Full

[...] cubes (when you’re in a hurry), achiote paste (fabulous with many Latin pork dishes like pernil and cochinitas pibil), dried corn husks for tamales and dried pasilla peppers (mild in flavor, try [...]
on 08 Feb 2009 at 12:20 pm11Julia

Oh, I love pernil! There’s a Puerto Rican deli down the street from me that serves it every Friday and Saturday. It comes with a side of some yellow sauce (not mustard) Any idea what it is or how it’s made? I think Pernil is in my future.
on 08 Feb 2009 at 1:09 pm12admin

hey, julia! wow… you found an oldie but real goodie on our blog. love when we get comments on old stuff. as for the yellow sauce, have you tried it? what are the flavors like? is it acidic? many times pernil has a side of “jus” made from the drippings, sometimes it’s served w/ a sour orange sauce. you should ask the puerto rican deli guys and then tell me… i’m curious.

but you should def. make pernil. it’s SOOOOO cheap and very tasty. then you can make cuban sandwiches w/ the leftovers (we have a recipe here too for that)
on 20 Feb 2009 at 1:53 am13Jo

I’m so glad I picked your recipe to try for making my first pernil. I usually enjoy my friends’ versions in the past (puerto rican and cuban recipes) and finally got the nerve to try it myself. Even though on this first voyage, it was more for a time guideline. Funny story, though. When I went to the butcher and picked out my “picnic” while I was on the cell phone, I watched him take the whole piece and come back with it cut up into 8 pieces. Ack! I took it anyway, marinated it overnight in some mojo criollo (Goya’s) and after consulting with my friend, roasted it anyway. Originally a 3.5 pound picnic, luckily it fit on my roasting rack perfectly. After 1/2 an hour on 475, then 3 hrs on 275 and final 1/2 hour rest period, it was fall apart tender. Yum! Hubby and I had a most delicious Valentine’s Day dinner. Can’t wait to make it again!
on 20 Feb 2009 at 10:05 am14admin

Hola, Jo! Thanks for the kind words… I’m so glad you gave ours a try (kinda) and were able to make it work w/ a sliced up pork butt. wtf? i wonder why your butcher did that… maybe he knows a secret we don’t know…

anyways, glad you had a delicious v-day. i would’ve been sad if our recipe was the downfall of your big day! ha ha ha.
on 28 Feb 2009 at 7:31 pm15Tiff

I made this last weekend and it was such a huge hit. It was absolutely delicious! Not only did all the adults love it, but my daughters loved it too and have been eating the leftovers all week. After hearing someone talk about Pernil I Googled it and came across your site and am so excited to try some of the other recipes on your blog – what a fun site! Thanks for the delicious recipe.
on 24 Mar 2009 at 6:53 pm16Anne

Wow was this great! We made 3, 7 lb butts at the same time for a birthday bash. Everybody was beggin for more to take home. Make a lot! You’ll love it and so will everyone else. This is a dish for your family’s favorite recipe book. Thanks so much for sharing it!
on 30 Apr 2009 at 11:02 pm17Mike

How about reversing the order of the cook?
Start low and cook until almost done, then raise the temp to 450-500 and uncover to crisp up the skin?
Or do you need the high heat initially to render the fat quickly?
Mike
on 01 May 2009 at 3:33 pm18admin

Hey, Mike. Great comment. I would be curious to see what would happen if you reversed the cooking process… what a great experiment. i think we’ll try it with our next pernil. thanks for the idea.
on 02 May 2009 at 11:44 am19Mike

The “reverse sear” technique works great with birds and beef. I’ve not tried it with a low’n’slow pork, because I usually don’t sear butts, but I’ll give it a try myself when I try your Pernil recipe!
on 02 May 2009 at 12:15 pm20admin

perfect. we may have one tomorrow and will also try the reverse! thanks soooo much for the comments, mike. looking forward to hearing from you again.
on 07 May 2009 at 3:42 pm21Christine

This is hands down the best way to cook Pernil. I have tried this low and slow method twice and plan to cook another one tomorrow. I have already seasoned the Pernil and can not wait until tomorrow. My in-laws are in visiting from England and I know they will absolutely be gobsmacked over this
(-:

Many thanks for all these amazing recipes! Keep them coming…and btw I am Puerto Rican and my mother was born in Puerto Rico and has gone back to this low and slow method based on my recommendation.
on 19 Jun 2009 at 1:08 pm22MplsCathy

I had never heard of Pernil, but after reading the recipe I knew resistance was futile. We are a family of 3 and consume very little meat on a weekly basis, but when we do eat meat we buy it at our neighborhood farmer’s market from a local farmer who raises beef and cattle organically and very humanely. We purchased a pork shoulder for our Sunday night dinner and it was to die for. Even my 13 year old stepdaughter was swooning over the tender goodness. We had the leftovers in tacos and they were so spectacular. Thank you so much for sharing your cooking expertise. I love to cook, love to try new recipes and flavors and I am now a fan of the amazing Pernil. We are all hooked!
on 19 Jun 2009 at 1:31 pm23admin

YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!! Thank you so much for the wonderful comment! Besides it being incredibly tasty, pernil is cheap and goes a very long way. we do tacos as well and you should also consider the leftovers for amazing cuban sandwiches: http://www.weareneverfull.com/cuban-sandwiches-the-best-way-to-eat-up-leftovers/

thanks again for giving the recipe a try!