Cuban Puerco Asado Food

PUERCO ASADO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Squeeze enough juice from limes to measure 1 cup. Mince garlic. In a bowl stir together 3 tablespoons lime juice, garlic, 2 1/2 tablespoons salt, oregano, and cumin. Pat pork dry and with a sharp small knife make 1-inch-long by 3/4-inch-deep incisions 2 inches apart in pork skin. Push about 1 teaspoon garlic mixture into each incision and rub remainder on meaty ends not covered by skin.
• Transfer pork to a large roasting pan (about 18 by 12 by 2 inches) and pour remaining lime juice around pork. Roast pork, uncovered, in middle of oven until most of juice is evaporated and brown bits begin to form on bottom of pan, about 30 minutes.
• In a bowl stir together water and vinegar and pour mixture around pork. Cover pan tightly with foil and roast 1 hour. With a small ladle baste meat only (not skin) with pan juices and roast pork, covered, 1 hour.
• With cleaned sharp small knife gently loosen skin from meat (without cutting through skin) and with a spoon baste meat under skin with pan juices. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 tablespoon salt over skin and roast pork, uncovered, basting meat (not skin) every 20 minutes, 1 1/2 hours more, or until skin is crisp. Transfer pork to a cutting board, reserving pan juices, and let stand 20 minutes. Skim fat from reserved pan juices.
• Cut pork into 1/4-inch-thick slices and serve with pan juices.

LECHON ASADO, CUBAN ROAST PORK

Steps:

• Pat dry the pork roast and prepare a plastic container or freezer bag big enough to hold it plus some liquid.
• Squeeze the juice from the orange, lime and lemon. Crush or finely chop the garlic and thinly slice the onion. Mix the juices with rest of ingredients (dry or fresh oregano, cumin, salt, garlic, onion and pepper) in the container/bag.
• Add the pork into the marinade and turn or seal the bag and shake a little to cover all over. Leave the pork to marinade overnight in the fridge, ideally turning at least once.
• When ready to cook, bring the pork out of the fridge ahead of time - around 30-60min - to allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 325F/ 160C.
• Place the pork in a roasting dish with the skin side up, sitting in a little of the citrus marinade juice. Save the rest of the marinade, including all of the onions. Baste the pork with the juice in the dish after 1-2hr and continue cooking. Roast for 3 hours, or a little more if needed, covering with foil if the top gets too brown. You should get an internal temp of at least 170F to be able to slice, or 190-200F to be able to shred when it's ready.
• While the pork is cooking, bring the remaining marinade to a gentle simmer and cook for around 5 minutes to soften the onions. Serve this as a sauce over the pork when serving.