Pernil Puerto Rican Roast Pork appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Pernil · Orlando
Pernil is Puerto Rican slow-roasted pork shoulder marinated with garlic, oregano, sour-orange and adobo, crisp on the outside and shredded under, with rice and beans.
Pernil is the canonical Puerto Rican Christmas and special-occasion roast, cooked overnight from a sour-orange and garlic marinade. Central Florida absorbed massive Puerto Rican migration after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and earlier waves through the 1990s, making Orlando the largest Puerto Rican community outside the island. The eastern Colonial Drive and Semoran Boulevard corridors plus the Kissimmee John Young Parkway stretch now hold the densest lechoneras in the region. La Lechonera El Jibarito in Kissimmee and Pio Pio in Lake Eola anchor the city's pernil map.
Where to eat in Orlando:
- La Lechonera El Jibarito
- Pio Pio Restaurant