Slow-roasted Cuban Pork
Difficulty: moderate
Total Time: < 180min
Makes: 6-8
The Cubans love roast pork! You will often see a couple of pigs being kept in a back yard for a special Christmas treat and a Cuban pig roast is a common Street Food scene. This dish is not too hard to make, but the slow cooking does take a bit of time. Use free-range pork shoulder for the best results, though other cuts do work. Free-range pork costs around 40% more than factory farmed pork, but tastes much better – and nicer for the pigs too! Serve with Cuban Black beans (find the recipe after this one), rice and fried ripe plantain
Ingredients
2-3 kg rolled free-range pork shoulder - skin on
4 cloves minced garlic
2 litres fresh orange juice
1 chilli
Juice of four fresh limes
50ml rapeseed or olive oil
1 tabelspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon each of chopped cilantro/coriander and flat- leafed parsley
Instructions
- Blend the orange and lime juices, pepper, salt, oil, chopped chilli, herbs and garlic to make a marinade
- Score and pierce the pork
- Pour the marinade onto the pork, cover and marinate for at least two hours and preferably overnight
- Place the pork with the marinade in a baking tray and roast at 200c for 20 minutes
- Cover the pork with silver foil and return to the oven at 120c for around 2-3 hours until thoroughly cooked
- Take off the foil and return to the overn for 10-15 munites at 200c to crisp the skin
- Allow to cook for 10 minutes, take off the skin and any surplus fat, shred the epork and serve with rice, Cuban Black Beans and fried plantain