Friday, September 4, 2009

Cleo Coyle's Pernil: Puerto Rican Style Roasted Pork Shoulder




Cleo Coyle has a partner in 
crime-writing—her husband.
Learn about their books
by clicking here or here.

Cleo Coyle’s Pernil:
Puerto Rican Style
Roasted Pork Shoulder

With the cold nip of fall now in the air, the holidays will soon be upon us; and because it’s wise to test recipes before serving them to guests, this is a great time to introduce you to my husband’s version of a Puerto Rican pernil, a marinated and roasted pork shoulder that's often made in Latin American homes during the holiday season.

Like my fictional character Matteo Allegro, my husband, Marc, is a wonderful cook and he enjoys making this dish throughout the fall and winter because: (a) it’s a mouth-watering delight, (b) it's extremely economical, and (c) it's suprisingly easy to make.

The aromatics of the rub always make me swoon and the finished product looks and tastes amazing. Like a stunning holiday turkey, a roasted pork shoulder will really wow your dinner guests. (They’ll think you worked a lot harder than you did because there’s no basting, just pop it in the oven and turn it a few times.)

Pork shoulder roasted this way is tasty sliced right off the bone. Over the years, we’ve served it with an array of sides: Spanish rice, chili-lime corn, roasted purple Peruvian potatoes, tangy Thai-inspired coleslaw, olive oil-drizzled avocado slices, caramelized organic carrots, and warm, cheesy biscuits. (Watch this Blog for some of these recipes in the near future!) The second day, we like to use our pernil leftovers for soft tacos.

Place the pork slices in a warmed flour or corn tortilla, add fresh salsa (or crisp shredded lettuce), guacamole, a bit of hot sauce, and top it with a dollop of sour cream. Pernil is also used to make Cuban sandwiches—another great serving idea.

And now without further ado (or even adobo!), here is
my husband’s version of the Puerto Rican classic…
just click the link below...
To get my recipe for
Puerto Rican Style
Roasted Pork Shoulder,
click here!

The recipe will appear in PDF format.
You can print it out or save it to your computer.

For more of my recipes or to find out more
about the books in my culinary mystery series,
click this link to my virtual home at:
http://www.CoffeehouseMystery.com/





CLEO'S FOODIE
VIDEO CAPTION:

In my ongoing effort to win this year's Oscar, I bring you this week's how-to video clip (below), which shows you what I consider to be the most difficult part of this recipe—wrapping the pork shoulder in plastic. No kidding! If you try to wrap the meat with pre-cut lengths of plastic, you may end up in a cling wrap battle royal. Our trick is (1) put a length of plastic wrap under the meat before you apply the rub; and (2) do not sever the wrap from the roll! When the meat is ready to go, just remove the entire cling wrap roll from its cardboard box and use it to guide the wrap around the meat as many times as you need to. Only after the meat is fully cocooned in plastic should you cut the wrap free of its roll—just use a scissors or clean slash of a sharp knife. (By the way, these handsome hands belong to my husband, Marc!)

16 comments:

  1. I love the way you've made a helpful tutorial with this recipe, Cleo! The step by step pictures are great and I appreciate the video too. Looks delish...mmm!

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  2. Wow, Cleo, this looks fabulous. Thanks for the video. You've got my Oscar vote ;-)

    Julie

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  3. Wow, Cleo, a video and everything. Couldn't be simpler! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Sounds wonderful, Cleo. I'll be on the lookout for pork shoulder at my local store!

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  5. Cleo, because of this recipe, I have decided that you are clearly my long lost sister. Sigh... and here I've spent all these years thinking that I was an only child! I can't wait to have a Thanksgiving feast with you...

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  6. Looks like we're having pork this weekend.
    YUM!!! That roast looks fantastic, Cleo.

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  7. I think this blog is becoming my "go to" site for pork recipes! Last weekend I tried Elizabeth's BBQ rub (Yum!!) and now I'm going to try your recipes later this week. Thanks for the great foodie inspiration and have a great holiday weekend!

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  8. well this is just mouth watering wonderful sounding. LOVE the video - thank you!!

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  9. Julie - your Oscar vote is greatly appreciated! LOL!

    Elizabeth, Avery, Krista, Jenn, Julie - Thanks again for stopping by! Getting our favorite recipes written down, explained, illustrated is happily starting to feel like that cookbook scrapbooking project I put off for years. Posting weekly in a forum like this is finally giving me the kick in the pants to actually do it! So thank you, too!!

    ~Cleo
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    "Where coffee and crime are always brewing..."

    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  10. Jessica! - GOURMET GIRL is in the house!! (Everyone: click on Jessica Conant-Park's name above to see what I'm talking about. She's the author of the awesome Gourmet Girl culinary mystery series.)

    I was just thinking the same thing: We are sisters in food for sure. Just keep your eye on the meatball, girfriend: That Prosecco-swilling cruise is in our future!

    ~Cleo

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  11. Hi Janel - I'll speak for Elizabeth and say we're so glad you're enjoying our "porkalicious" recipes. Thanks sincerely for stopping by. You have a great holiday weekend, too!

    ~Cleo
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com

    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  12. Hi Kaye - Shout-out to North Carolina and last week's Williams-Sonoma gift card winner! Appreciating the love on my video. I'm not exactly the Francis Ford Coppola of food yet, but I'm working on it! (And, come to think of it, even Mr. Coppola's making more wine than movies these days! LOL!)

    ~Cleo

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  13. Sounds wonderful. Printed it out, or rather tried to. The ink is low and the bottom half of the pages are really light. Will get new cartridges tomorrow. Will also get the ingredients for this. May fix it Tuesday since I have the day off. Yum!

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  14. Librarypat - Refill ink cartridges at your leisure because the post isn't going anywhere, lol. Thanks for dropping in - we love comments - and I hope you enjoy the pernil and have a restful Labor Day Weekend!

    ~Cleo

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  15. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you at Mystery Lovers Kitchen for my giftcard from Williams Sonoma. I am so delighted to have won such a great gift!! And Cleo your Pork Roast recipe sounds fabulous! I can't wait to try it out.

    Sally

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  16. With only 3 of us in the house, I don't get the chance to make a roast. Yes, I know they come smaller but, they are usually too small to roast. That, and husband has a bunch of dietary restrictions (salt and Vitamin A).

    The pictures make it look fabulous!

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