Pernil (pork shoulder) on the PBC

Pernil is traditional Puertorican way of making pork shoulder, and I made this Sat night. Usually I do this in the oven but I decided to try outside. I scored the top. I used minced garlic, black pepper, sazon, oregano, adobo, a little salt, and some vinegar. Mixed it all together to make a paste and slathered it on the shoulder and placed in fridge overnight. Usually I use whole garlic cloves and stick them in slits in the pork, but all I had was the minced garlic.
I hung it in the PBC fat side down, with the grate in just in case it fell. There was about 1/2" clearance between the meat and grate. It started to rain so I pulled it off to finish in the oven. Pictures are before going in oven. With the scored skin it was nice and crisp and was already cut into bite size pieces. They seperated nicely from the fat and I was able to have a snack before placing in the oven. That crunchy skin is awesome.
The bone pulled out nicely and the pork turned out great with the added smoke flavor.

fantomlord said:

a good go-to side for anything Latin American is plantains:

take some ripe plantains (no green left, all yellow with some brown spots, and starting to soften a bit), cut in half, cut off the ends, grill indirect until they start to ooze :thumb:

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With the green ones you can make tostones (fried plantains). You slice the plantain at an angle and fry those for a bit, then you take them out and flatten them, and fry some more until a little crisp. Then you make a paste with garlic, oil and salt and mix it with the fried plantains. If you like garlic you'll like this.

flyingbassman5 said:

Awesome!! Looks almost as good as the one I did Saturday afternoon!! :thumb:

I lucked out by beating the rain though. Plus we had to eat before 6 so we could sit and watch the hockey game. Where did you get that shoulder from? I tried the Tyson brand cryovac ones from wally world on Saturday and it was pretty good and nice sized.

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I usually get the shoulder at Wal-Mart, but this one I got at Schnucks the week before.

MisterChrister said:

Wow that's some good looking grub right there, I'll have to try that! Is there a traditional way and or any sides to serve it with that you'd recommend? Thanks for posting this!

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Typically around the holidays you would have pernil with Arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) and a slice of avocado. You could also just have white rice and beans. I do not know how to describe the beans, but every time I make it people love it. Maybe I will have to try and measure everything and try to do a post one of these weekends.