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 Pernil in Orlando

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Make it at home

Serves 88 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 2.5kg bone-in skin-on pork shoulder
  • 10 garlic cloves
  • 20g kosher salt
  • 5g dried oregano
  • 5g freshly ground black pepper
  • 60ml sour orange juice (or 2 parts orange to 1 part lime)
  • 60ml olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • Rice and red beans to serve

Method

  1. Score the pork skin in a 1cm crosshatch pattern. With a sharp knife, cut 3cm-deep slits all over the meat side.
  2. Mash garlic, salt, oregano and black pepper into a paste in a mortar. Stir in sour orange, olive oil and vinegar.
  3. Rub the marinade deep into every slit and over the skin. Refrigerate uncovered overnight, ideally 12 hours.
  4. Heat oven to 165C / 325F. Place pork skin-up on a rack in a roasting pan.
  5. Roast 4 hours until internal temperature reaches 88C / 190F and the meat shreds easily.
  6. Increase oven to 220C / 425F. Roast 20 to 30 minutes more until the skin (chicharron) is deep amber and crackling.
  7. Rest 20 minutes. Crack off the chicharron in shards. Shred the meat with two forks.
  8. Serve with rice, red beans and a piece of chicharron on top.

Editor tip. The overnight marinate is non-negotiable. The high-heat skin finish is what turns the chicharron crackling-crisp; watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.