Pernil

Authentic Puerto Rican Slow Roasted Pork

Pernil (Per Neel) is a typical Puerto Rican dish consisting of a pork roast/shoulder that has been marinated overnight and slow-roasted  at 300 F. The result is a flavorful, and tender meat that will fill your house with a delicious aroma, and your belly with a whole lot of “piggy goodness.”

Ingredients

• 8 lbs pork shoulder, 1 full pork butt or shoulder, skin off.
• 8-10 garlic cloves cut into 4-5 slivers each
• 6 Tbsp sofrito
• 2 packets of Goya Sazon with culantro y achiote paleo diet: substitute a 3 Tbsp mixture of equal parts of sea salt, black pepper, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, paprika and oregano
• 1/4 cup adobo seasoning

Prep

1. Layout your ingredients (left to right):
   Sofrito, garlic slices, adobo, and sazon con culantro y achiote.
2. Your pork shoulder should be trimmed off the skin and you can leave some fat on it. You can have it ready in the roaster pan. Start making slits with a sharp knife. Insert the garlic slices into the slits as you go. Do this all over the entire shoulder: top, bottom, and sides.
3. Take the adobo and sazon and sprinkle over all sides of the shoulder. Rub in the adobo and sazon as you go. Scoop up and loose spice that falls into the roaster and rub it all in.
4. Take your sofrito and pour it over all sides of the shoulder. Rub in the sofrito all over the shoulder.
5. Cover the shoulder with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Directions  

1. Stab the pork shoulder in various places and insert the garlic pieces.
2. Combine the adobo and sazon and use it as a dry rub and coat pork shoulder. 
3. Rub the sofrito all around the pork shoulder.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and set in your refrigerator overnight.
5. Preheat your oven to 300F.
6. Remove plastic from pork shoulder and place it in a roaster pan. Cook covered for about 3 hours.
7. Remove from oven, flip and cover once more. You can add 1/2 to 1 cup of water to the roaster to add some additional juices for later. Continue to cook another 2 hours, or until fork tender. It should fall apart.
8. Remove from the oven and place half the shoulder on a large cutting board. Discard the layer of fat. Start chopping the meat with a sharp knife and place chopped pieces in a large bowl.
9. Take remaining juices from the cooking process and place it in a container in the refrigerator to allow the fat to rise to the top and solidify.
10. Remove solid fat and discard it. If you have gravy and fat separator, those work very well.
11. Mix the juice with your chopped meat. Portion off into individual containers and freeze.  This will keep frozen for several months if you vacuum packs it. 

Arroz con Gandules

Rice with chickpeas 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 1 (6 ounce) ham steak, cut into small pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• Bagged Yellow Onions 3 Lbs
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into small pieces
• loose Green Bell Peppers 1 Each
• 1 (15 ounce) can gandules (pigeon peas), drained and rinsed
• 1/2 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (such as Goya®)
• 5 tablespoons sofrito
• 3 tablespoons adobo seasoning
• 2 tablespoons olive brine
• 5 pitted green olives
• 1 (1.41 ounce) package sazon seasoning
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup white rice

Directions 

1. Heat corn oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add ham, onion, and green bell pepper; cook and stir until onion and green bell peppers are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in gandules, tomato sauce, sofrito, adobo seasoning, olive brine, green olives, and sazon seasoning until warmed through.
2. Pour water and rice into the pot; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from sticking until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover; cook until rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove lid and stir rice; cover and cook until rice is very soft, about 30 minutes more.

Puerto Rican Custard 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• C&H Pure Cane Granulated Sugar 4 Lbs
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups whole milk

Directions 

1. Whisk together cornstarch, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a large saucepan.
2. Stir in the milk to evenly blend ingredients, and set over medium-high heat.
3. Continue whisking and cooking until custard reaches a thick consistency, 25 to 30 minutes. It is important to stir the entire time, or the custard can easily burn or clump. The custard will continue to thicken as it cools.
4. Spoon into bowls to serve.

Flan de Mango

Mango Pudding 

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• C&H Pure Cane Granulated Sugar 4 Lb
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups pureed mango
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon rum (optional)
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fill a large, shallow baking pan with about 1 1/2 inches water.
2. In an 8×13 inch aluminum baking pan over medium heat, mix the sugar and lemon juice. Cook and stir until caramelized. Remove from heat, and blend in mango, sweetened condensed milk, cornstarch, rum, evaporated milk, eggs, and salt.
3. Set pan with the mango mixture into the pan with water. Place in the preheated oven, and bake 45 minutes, or until firm. Cool before turning out onto a platter.

Puerto Rican Beef Stew 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, or more as needed
• 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 3 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup red cooking wine
• 8 Manzanilla olives
• 2 tablespoons sofrito
• 1 (1.41 ounce) package sazon seasoning with achiote (such as Goya®)
• 1/2 tablespoon adobo seasoning
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions 

1. Mix flour, salt, and pepper together in a freezer-size plastic bag. Add beef and shake, coating evenly.
2. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar and cook until it turns golden, about 5 minutes. Add meat and cook until browned on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer browned beef to the bottom of a slow cooker.
3. Stir carrots, potatoes, water, tomato sauce, wine, olives, sofrito, sazon, adobo seasoning, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce into the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender, on High 4 to 6 hours, or Low for 8 to 10 hours.

About Post Author

Priscilla Vargas

See author's posts