Cuban Roast Pork
I posted my (Orchid) changes at the bottom.
(This was posted by Lisa in LA)
Cuban Roast Pork
One "fresh ham" with bone in and skin on. You can also use a small pork roast with a good layer of fat on it (I've been using shoulders because that's all I can find in this one horse town)
Note: I'm too lazy to do this the traditional way... I combine the garlic, salt, dried oregano, onion and citrus juice in the food processor and proceed from there.
Mojo Marinade
20 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 cups sour orange juice (In a pinch, use two
parts orange to one part lemon and one part lime)
1 cup minced onion
1 teaspoon oregano
1 and 1/2 cups Spanish olive oil (Goya brand is good)
Mash the garlic and salt together with a mortar and pestle. (A rolling pin on a cutting board works pretty good too.) Add dried oregano, onion and the sour orange to the mash and mix thoroughly. Heat oil in small sauce pan, add the mash to the oil and whisk.
Pierce pork as many times as you can with a sharp knife or fork. Pour garlic mixture (save a little for roasting) over pork, cover and let sit in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight (I let sit for three days, turning daily, and it was divine)
To Cook:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Place the pork fattest side up in an open roasting pan. Place pan in oven and reduce temperature to 325°F. Spoon extra marinade over the roast occasionally as it cooks. Using a meat thermometer, roast should be removed from the oven when the temperature reaches 155°F. Immediately cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. The roast will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat. A perfectly cooked pork roast will be pale white in the middle and the juices will run clear. Allow about 1/4 to 1/2 pound per person, depending on side dishes.
Note on pork roast: I pull off and shred all the meat and put it in a large pan. I then spoon all the pan 'stuff'. marinade I'd basted with, pan juices and drippings over the top of the meat, and popped it back in the oven for about 10 minutes. It was WONDERFUL this way. Additional note... my 12 lb shoulder roast took about six to seven hours to come up to an internal temp of 160°, so plan ahead. ;>)
Orchid’s Additional Tweaks:
We don't skimp on the garlic and use even more than it calls for. We make slits in the meat and put in garlic chunks.
I cut the oil down to ¾ cup
I add 2 teaspoons cumin
I found a recipe from a Chef on line that was basically the same as this one, but a little different. I think covering it while cooking really makes a difference. Here’s is what he does.
"Let this marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 days and up to 4 days. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Take the pork out of the marinade and put it into a Dutch oven or roasting pan, fat-side-up. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Turn it fat-side-down, cover and cook another 1 1/2 hours. Turn the meat one last time and cook 1 hour more. Now the meat should be almost falling off the bone. If it is not, it needs more time covered in the oven. Turn up the heat to 375 degrees F and cook, uncovered, 30 minutes to brown. Now remove the roast to a cutting board and allow it to rest a few minutes. Pull apart the pork with 2 large forks."
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
I put ALL of the marinade in the pan at the start. This becomes a delicious "juice" to pour over the pork chunks. There will be a lot of fat on it so I removed as much as possible until there was just a very small amount still on top. I then used a paper towel to just pick up what remained. So delicious! To serve the next day I just let the meat come to room temperature and then reheat the juice to pour over. I also didn't remove the cover to brown the last 30 minutes. It just seems that that browned meat layer on top is dryish. We like the really juicy tender meat underneath so why brown it. This was beyond delicious!
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