Well, another recipe inspired by the amazing bodega by my job. Pernil is basically just a marinated and roasted or grilled picnic with the skin on. Correct me if I am wrong but it is very popular in Puerto Rico. Not sure if it originated there. Got a picnic for $.88 per pound and thought I'd give it a whirl. Found many recipes online and settled on a combo of a few of them. Had an 8# picnic to work with.
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
8 tsp of kosher salt (1 tsp per pound)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
12-15 cloves of minced garlic
And here is the process:
The Verdict:
Sorry if the pics were overkill. Especially the sandwich haha I enjoyed it! I would definitely do this again and perhaps add a little citrus to the marinade. Felt like it needed a little acidic contrast. Very happy with how it turned out but I'm always looking to make things even better. The skin is the absolutely most delicious thing on earth despite me burning it a bit. Salty, garlicy, and crispy, bacony..incredible. It gave a good contrast in texture on the sandwich. Well thanks for looking and if you haven't tried this, give it a whirl!
-Chris
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
8 tsp of kosher salt (1 tsp per pound)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
12-15 cloves of minced garlic
And here is the process:
- With a pairing knife make many deep slits all over the shoulder
- Score the skin in a cross hatch pattern (Not sure why I did this but it looked cool) haha
- Mix marinade ingredients to create a paste and rub all over the shoulder, pushing into the slits you made previously
- Stick it in the fridge for a day or 2 or three. I got to leave it in for 2.
- Smoked it with KBB and cherry wood chunks on the Pit Barrel Cooker. The PBC usually runs around 275 under normal circumstances, but it you remove the rebar it cooks much higher. I was hoping for temps of about 400 to crisp up the skin but I never actually monitored the temp
- Brought the pernil to about 195 unwrapped the whole way in the PBC
- Brought it inside and put it in a 450 degree oven until it reached 205 for pulling and to crisp up the skin ***This is where I screwed up a bit by not keeping my eye on it. Skin got a bit too dark****
- Let it rest for about an hour or so before I peeled back the skin (eating about half a pound of it in the process) and pulling the meat. Bone slid right out!
The Verdict:
Sorry if the pics were overkill. Especially the sandwich haha I enjoyed it! I would definitely do this again and perhaps add a little citrus to the marinade. Felt like it needed a little acidic contrast. Very happy with how it turned out but I'm always looking to make things even better. The skin is the absolutely most delicious thing on earth despite me burning it a bit. Salty, garlicy, and crispy, bacony..incredible. It gave a good contrast in texture on the sandwich. Well thanks for looking and if you haven't tried this, give it a whirl!
-Chris
