Why This Recipe Works

Pernil is a behemoth—both the roast itself and its prominence for Puerto Ricans and the diaspora. The hulking pork picnic shoulder is seasoned to the core with garlicky adobo and roasted for hours until the meat is tender but not dry and its thick, rubbery cuero (skin) puffs, browns, and crisps. In addition to a classic mix of garlic, dried oregano, salt, black pepper, oil, and sazón, we added minced Manzanilla olives to the adobo for their briny pop and moisture. To apply seasoning all over the meat without disturbing the skin, we made deep cuts into the side of the roast directly under the skin and on its underside and pressed a highly seasoned adobo into the incisions. Letting the meat rest for at least 12 hours allowed the salt and other seasonings to penetrate, deeply seasoning the meat to help it retain moisture during cooking. Roasting the picnic shoulder at a moderately low temperature (325 degrees) for about 6 hours allowed plenty of time for the collagen in the connective tissue–rich muscles to melt into gelatin, softening and tenderizing them; the moderate temperature also prevented the low-collagen muscles from drying out. To thoroughly brown, puff, and crisp the skin without overcooking the meat, we removed the skin from the cooked roast and briefly blasted it in a hot oven. The high heat converted water in the skin into steam, causing the skin to puff, which left it crisp instead of chewy or hard.

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Before You Begin

This recipe requires an overnight marinade and a long roasting time, but it is mostly hands-off. Picnic shoulder is a large, roughly triangular, bone-in, skin-on roast from the front leg of the animal. Look for sazón with culantro and achiote (also called annatto); avoid those without salt. If your refrigerator won't fit a roasting pan, refrigerate the marinated roast on a large plate. We like to serve this with arroz con gandules, boiled yuca, and pickled red onions.

Instructions

Stir olives, garlic, oil, pepper, oregano, 1 tablespoon salt, and sazón together in small bowl.

Place roast skin side up on cutting board. Pat dry with paper towels. Holding sharp chef's knife parallel to cutting board, make four 4- to 5-inch-deep incisions about ½ inch below skin on broad end of roast (depending on width of your knife, you may be able to make only 3 incisions). Continue making deep incisions 2 inches apart all over exposed flesh (do not pierce skin).

Reserve 1 tablespoon olive mixture. Wiggle your fingers into all incisions to widen holes. Using your fingers, press remaining olive mixture deep into all incisions. Rub reserved mixture over all surfaces of pork, including skin. Place pork skin side down in roasting rack set in roasting pan and refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 12 hours or up to 48 hours.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cook pork, uncovered, for 3 hours.

Remove pan from oven and, using 2 wads of paper towels, flip roast skin side up. Sprinkle skin with remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Continue to cook until thickest part of meat registers between 180 and 190 degrees, about 3 hours longer. Transfer roast to carving board and let rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes. While roast is resting, line rimmed baking sheet with foil and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

Carefully run sharp knife under edges of skin and pull to remove in 1 piece. Transfer skin, fat side down, to prepared sheet. Cover roast with foil. When oven reaches 450 degrees, roast skin until crisp, about 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through roasting.

Cut meat away from bone in 3 or 4 large pieces. Slice each piece against grain ¼ inch thick. Scrape excess fat from underside of skin, if desired, and cut into bite-size pieces. Transfer meat and skin to platter and serve.