I second the thanks, Biggirl! I should have given you credit instead of Ukelele Ike. He did mention pernil first, but then he goes and links to a lousy Wikipedia entry instead of having the basic human decency to post or link to an actual recipe :rolleyes: 
I do not like fat. That’s one reason the sous vide works so well for me. I trim off as much fat as possible before sous vide and then after I pour much of the fat down the drain when sous vide is complete.
Ideas for leftovers are great too! I made a mean gumbo awhile back with chicken, shrimp and leftover smoked pulled pork-- I still dream about it sometimes…
White vinegar or cider or?
I usually use cider but have used white in a pinch.
I know you don’t use measurements, but can you give an approximation, or at least an idea of relative amounts of the pepper, adobo, recaito, sazon, oregano, fresh garlic, fennel seeds, etc? I’ve just ordered the adobo, recaito and sazon from Amazon, because I’d like to try my hand at this.
Pat the shoulder dry, then rub with olive oil. coat it with your favorite dry rub and let it sit for about an hour while you start your fire.
Smoke the shoulder in an off set smoker with hickory splits. Once it hits 140f it is done forming its smoke ring.
Watch it until it hits the color and bark level you like and then wrap it in heavy duty foil. Continue to cook to an internal temp of 205f
Wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler to rest for an hour or so.
Make your favorite mashed potato recipe. Mine is Yukon Gold mashed with some butter, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and roasted garlic.
Make your favorite sausage country gravy recipe. Mine has some diced thick cut bacon, Italian sausage, scallions, shallots and whole milk.
Slice a French baguette on a wide bias and lightly toast.
Assemble your bread, pulled pork mashed potatoes and country gravy into a nice hot pulled pork and gravy sandwich, with mashed potatoes on the side.
I was gonna say 3 or 4 glugs of oil, one or two glugs of vinegar, some Adobo but not too much because it can get salty, a lot of oregano, can never be too much oregano. . . but decided to look for a recipe that matched mine with actual measurements. Instead I spent more than 15 minutes scrolling through Puerto Rican style roast pork recipes and found that nobody, but NOBODY makes this the same and, in fact, recipes range wildly. Some recipes call for sticking whole garlic cloves into the holes. Some call for sour orange juice, but that sounds more Central American to me than Puerto Rican. Then again, I put fennel in mine, so who am I to judge? Some don’t have any acid at all. Weird.
Goya’s recipe is the closest I could find to mine, except they use lime juice instead of vinegar. And minced jarred garlic is an inspiration. Goes along with my paste style marinade better than the crushed whole cloves I usually use.
Been there done that on the BBQ part but the rest sounds deliciously decadent. Not the typical BBQ sides but I like it.
205f internal temp? I call it done at 190 and it’s falling apart. That’s all you need to render the collagen.
I’d add some ground fennel to that gravy, and finish it with a knob of butter. But that’s me.
Muchas gracias.
You are not going to use not even a tenth of whatever size jar of recaito you have. My I suggest making arroz con habechuelas gizadas on the side (rice and beans!)?
Again, Goya comes close to how I make it. I never put ham in mine, but I don’t doubt that tastes really good. Mi abuela used to put fatback. And instead of yucca or yautia, I may or may not put a small, diced potato. I also put stuff in a the hot oil a bit differently.
onions, peppers
garlic
recaito
powder spices, stirring constantly
potatoes
beans
Then all the liquid (half water, half chicken stock).
Would it surprise anyone if I admit that I make my own recaito?
Not at all. I make my own sofrito for paella.
Yes, they make great pork and cabbage plate lunches here! I made up a recipe to try to duplicate it at home and later found a recipe in a local cookbook; I was gratified to discover that my version was spot-on. This is good stuff because the ingredients aren’t too finicky as long as you have the pork the freezer; cabbage and onions keep a long time so you can wait until the mood strikes to whip up this dish. And you can balance the teriyaki/BBQ/soy flavors to suit you and your family’s preferences.
(The recipe says kalua pork but any pulled pork will do fine.)
HAWAIIAN STYLE PORK AND CABBAGE
Olive or corn oil, ~ 3-4 TBS
2 large onions, quartered and sliced
1 medium head cabbage, chopped into bite-size pieces and washed (leave some water clinging to the pieces)
Large knob of fresh ginger – enough for ~ 2 TBS chopped
1 pound kalua pig
¼ cup barbeque sauce, more to taste
¼ cup soy sauce, more to taste
¼ cup teriyaki sauce (flavored, ex ginger or mango, is fine), more to taste
Heat oil in wok and add onions. Allow to cook over low heat until limp and beginning to caramelize. Add the cabbage and ginger and stir to combine. Put the lid on, turn heat up slightly, and allow the cabbage to wilt. When the cabbage-onion mixture is starting to brown, add the kalua pig and stir to mix. Then add barbeque sauce, soy soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce. Stir well and allow to cook a few minutes so that flavors combine and extra moisture boils off. Taste and add BBQ/soy/teriyaki sauce if needed.
Serve with steamed rice.
So you make this recipe with already cooked pork? Sounds like a great way to repurpose a large amount of leftover pulled pork from a previous meal. Definitely going to hang on to this recipe!
Yes, exactly. They sell ready-to-eat kalua pork by the pound here and it’s delicious.
Another nice thing about the recipe is that if you’re trying to stretch your meat (which I think we all are as shortages may loom ahead), you can use more cabbage/onions and less meat, and it’s just as good.
(BTW, I can explain the possibly jarring reference to “kalua pig” rather than “pork” in the recipe - I didn’t notice that when I posted. When I wrote out the recipe, a native Hawaiian friend had recently corrected me for talking about “kalua pork,” insisting that locals call it “kalua pig.” So for a while I tried hard to switch my vocabulary. I think she may have been having a little joke at my expense, though. Now that I’ve lived here a couple of years, I find that grocery store pork is still pork - it’s only “pig” if you catch a wild one.)
I cooked a very tasty pork butt in the Instant Pot a few days ago. I seasoned both sides of the pork with salt, pepper, celery salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. I put half a chunked onion, a few cloves of garlic, and half a chopped apple on the bottom of the pot, then put the pork in fat side up, topped it with more onion and garlic, then poured over about one cup of Coke. I cooked it for 15 minutes per pound.
We at it with barbecue sauce and buns for two meals. Tonight, I’m going to mix some pulled pork with leftover baked beans and corn, pour it into a baking dish, top with cornbread batter, and bake. I think I will freeze the rest of the pulled pork.
I made this for dinner today. Turned out fantastic! Even the kids liked it. Served it with corn tortillas and fixings as the recipe recommended. Thanks Chefguy! Did you make Biggirl’s pernil recipe yet?