Cuban Pork with Mojo Oven Recipe

Welcome back to the Redneck Cuban Kitchen. Today we will tackle a recipe that is dear to many and that is Cuban pork. I decided to do this recipe for Cuban pork because after polling some of my friends. The question was – ‘which Cuban dish you which you could make better’? About 80% responded with Cuban style pork and mojo or Cuban style pork shoulder, sometimes called “pernil.” Although to me, the pernil is the top part of the leg. But it seems that in Miami, any piece of pork around 6-8 pounds will do!

We will tackle this Cuban style pork and mojo in the tradition of the Redneck Cuban Kitchen. That means in two parts – one being the ingredients and the other the procedure. As with many of my recipes, the secret relies on the procedure. Many, if not all of my recipes are hundreds of years old.

Many of you who know me or have watched earlier videos know that I’m not particularly eager to re-invent wheels. As they say, if not broken, don’t fix it! My Cuban pork seasoning is straight out of my mom’s kitchen, and it consists of:

• 1 Tbs of Salt
• 1 Tbs of Black Pepper
• 1 Tbs of Onion Powder
• 1 Tbs of Garlic Powder
• 1 Tbs of Cumin
• 1 Tbs of Oregano or Italian seasoning
• 3X Sour Oranges or about a cup (see the blog on how to get around this)
• 2 Tbs of olive or vegetable oil

*These quantities are for every 6-7 lbs of pork

You are also going to need a baking pan big enough to fit your pork shoulder, as well as a deep saucepan with a lid for the marinate, parchment paper, and heavy-duty aluminum foil.

The only change I have made here is that instead of using real garlic and onions, I use powder. As I mentioned in the video, I have worked at many restaurants that insist on powder to avoid the risk of burnt garlic. I don’t think that there is a substitute for sour oranges, but as close as I have ever gotten to it has been by mixing ¼ of lemon juice, ¼ of grapefruit juice, and 1 cup of orange juice. It goes without saying that the better or as natural the ingredient, the better the mojo marinate.

Up to now, the recipe has been pretty traditional of a Cuban style pork shoulder. However, things are about to change since we will borrow a cooking technique from the Polynesian culture and how they cook pork. In Hawaii and other Polynesian cultures, they wrap the prepared pork with banana leaves and bury it in the ground over coals. That creates a membrane and steam chamber around the pork yielding extraordinary results.

The taste of Cuban mojo-marinated roast pork is unique! Well-executed Cuban pork with mojo is juicy, succulent with garlic and citrus, intensely porky, and melt-in-your-mouth tender. But many who try to cook Cuban style pork fail on many fronts. Getting that meat to shred like pull-pork while keeping it moist and succulent is not an easy task! But here is where this recipe comes to the rescue.

It doesn’t matter how many times you have failed to make Cuban-style pork and mojo or Cuban-style pork shoulder that is juicy, succulent with garlic and citrus, intensely porky, and melt-in-your-mouth tender. You will be a hero with this recipe.  Let’s start by mixing our mojo marinate in a mixing bowl. You need 2 tbs of olive oil, 1 cup of sour orange juice, 1 tbs of salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin, onion powder for every 6-7 lbs of pork.

If your pork shoulder has the skin on and a lot of fat, remove it. We want a little bit of fat but not like bacon. Place your pork shoulder in the saucepan and with a sharp knife, make insitions about two inches deep, every 2-3 inches. Grab your mojo marinate and rub your pork shoulder, making sure to cover every little crevice. Place your marinated pork in the refrigerator for 4 hours, taking it out, flipping, and rubbing it every hour. After four hours of marinating, it is time to wrap the pork.

Cut a large piece of parchment paper about four feet long and place your pork shoulder on one end. Start to wrap in one directing as tight as you can. So, you know, if you have ever purchase meat from the butcher and they gave it to you wrapped in paper, this is the same thing we are trying to do here. Once you have finished one direction, grab another four-foot piece, and wrap the other direction to cover the exposed ends. With two layers of paper on your pork, we can move to foil. Foiling the pork butt is the same as with the paper, except that I use three layers instead of two to capture all the juices and the steam. We will then put our wrapped pork shoulder in the center of a 250-degree oven for 1.5 hours per pound!

After your cooking time has expired. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour. We can then cut an H shape to expose the top of our pork shoulder. Use the juices that are in the dish to brush the top before putting it back in the oven. Place under the broiler at about 6-8 inches for 5-minutes. This last step is 100% optional but I like almost burn edges on my pork! The result is very similar to what you get from a Caja China. A contraption brought to Cuba by the Chinese in the 1800s. But I believe that this method yields more consistent results!

Thank you for stopping by, and I look forward to having you as a subscriber at the Redneck Cuban Kitchen Channel! Stay tuned. I have more Cuban food recipes coming your way!