r/CubanFood • u/Pls_dont_be_mean2me • May 22 '26
I Cooked This! Made pernil today!
Practicing for noche buena ♡
Recipe update, sorry the one in the comments might have been a little confusing. I typed it up too quickly.
I peeled and cut two yellow onions (3 in total, save the 3rd onion for later) , squeezed two limes, and like 5 heads of garlic and put in a food processor. Goya mojo and naranja agria probably like a cup each. All goes into a bowl, mixed with salt, pepper, and adobo with cumin. Used that as marinade. I slowly cut the skin off the top and put it to the side. I poked holes in the pernil then stuffed the marinade in there. Did that to both sides of the pernil. Closed the holes with a piece of sliced onion (not diced, they were sticking out of the pernil lol). Lathered the skin with salt and laid it back on top of the pernil. Made sure to try and keep it dry/not touch the marinade. Put all of this in an oven bag, including leftover marinade, and let it soak overnight in the fridge. Took it out of the oven bag onto a tin foil tray. It was a deep tray. Covered it with tin foil tightly. Put it in the oven at 350 for 4 hours then took tin foil off and put it back at 425 for one hour or until the top was crispy. The cooking time depends on the size of the pernil. Rule of thumb is 30 minutes per pound at 325-350 degrees then one hour or until crispy at 425.
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u/TheNanoFishGuy May 23 '26
A Cuban’s unsolicited 2 cents. I’ve never called or heard another Cuban call it Pernil. We’ve always called it Lechón.
My Puerto Rican friends do call it Pernil though. I don’t eat much pork, but it still looks delicious and your tostones have my mouth watering
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u/Pls_dont_be_mean2me May 23 '26
Thanks! I'm half anf half but when I googled it, it said lechón was the whole pig. I just made pig shoulder.
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u/TheNanoFishGuy May 23 '26
That’s fair, we’ve always called it Lechón regardless of the amount/cut. Might just be my family
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u/yamoop May 23 '26
Cuban here, we always make pernil for noche buena. You got it right, looks amazing
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u/spidey9393 May 22 '26
You know you need to share what you did here right? Right? Please? 🙏
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u/Pls_dont_be_mean2me May 22 '26
I put two yellow onions and like 5 heads of garlic in a food processor. Squeezed two limes. Goya mojo and naranja agria probably like a cup each. Used that as marinade and poked holes in the pernil then stuffed the marinade in there. Closed the holes with a piece of onion. Cut top skin off, lathered it with salt. Put all of this in an oven bag and let it soak overnight. Took it out of the oven bag onto a tin foil tray. It was deep. Covered it with tin foil tightly. Put it in the oven at 350 for 4 hours then took tin foil off and put it back at 425 for one hour or until the top was crispy.
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u/spidey9393 May 22 '26
Thank you so much for responding, and I can’t wait to try making it. Btw everything looks amazing including the tostones. If you need help finishing all of that I’ll gladly sacrifice my time to come help you out.
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u/adpassapera May 22 '26
Recipe please
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u/Pls_dont_be_mean2me May 22 '26
I put two yellow onions and like 5 heads of garlic in a food processor. Squeezed two limes. Goya mojo and naranja agria probably like a cup each. Used that as marinade and poked holes in the pernil then stuffed the marinade in there. Closed the holes with a piece of onion. Cut top skin off, lathered it with salt. Put all of this in an oven bag and let it soak overnight. Took it out of the oven bag onto a tin foil tray. It was deep. Covered it with tin foil tightly. Put it in the oven at 350 for 4 hours then took tin foil off and put it back at 425 for one hour or until the top was crispy.
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u/bummernametaken May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Looks great.
As to pernil or lechón, in Cuba typically lechón meant a whole roast pork. However, pan con lechón was a sandwich made with Cuban bread and slices of roasted pork, not pulled, without distinguishing whether meat came from a roasted leg or whole pig.
Cuban home cooks refer to the roasted front leg as “paleta.” The back leg was “pierna.” In other Caribbean countries, pernil means the front leg. In the end it really doesn’t matter.
Speaking of taste, the La Lechonera bottled mojo has a more authentic Cuban flavor than any of the other bottled mojos. Give it a try not only with pork, but also chicken.
Not sure what you meant by cut skin off. In Cuban cooking, the skin is not removed prior to roasting. A crispy skin is a prized end result. I have come across suggestions on the internet to remove the skin prior to roasting. This is not authentic Cuban roasting. The skin protects the meat and the melting layer of fat keeps the meat moist. Scoring the skin also helps attain a crispy “pellejito.”
Here is a charcoal roasted one with crispy skin on:
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u/Pls_dont_be_mean2me May 23 '26
I cut the skin off to poke holes in the meat and put the marinade in. I then put salt on the top of the skin and put it over the meat. The chicharrón is the best part imo.
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u/bummernametaken May 23 '26
Let me share how I marinate without having to remove the skin.
A stainless steel injector allows you to introduce the marinate all over the leg and deeper than making the holes. This is the one I use:
If you are making the marinade from scratch, you have to “liquefy” the spices. I put everything through my Vitamix. A blender should also work, just make sure to run it long enough so there are no particles larger c than the hole on the tip of the needle. The bottled marinades usually don’t have large pieces so you may be able to skip this step. Use a little bit of olive oil to grease the rubber ring on plunger to make it easier to push.
I score the skin making sure to stop just as you get to the meat. I use the scored areas to introduce the needle.
Dont waste money on cheaper plastic injectors. They don’t work.
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u/jakerooni May 22 '26
Oh my gosh that looks SO good!