Cuban Roast Pork (Lechon Asado)

So my coworkers and I went to a Cuban restaurant.  I was going to get my usual Cubano, when I saw a roast pork dish.  It was the same cost, so I tried it.  It was a sour, citrus taste with pork.  It tasted a lot like lime with something else.  I was sad when they took my dish away.

Back at work, I asked my coworker what it was called for the umpteenth time.  "Lechon Asado," he said.  I found a recipe on Closet Cooking, where I always find hit recipes (as opposed to misses), and showed D.  He said ok.  Of course we didn't read the instructions about the marinade until we were to have it, so we delayed it a day.

We searched Whole Foods and 2 Krogers.  No Seville Oranges (for that matter WF has a horrible Latino section).  So D made the juice himself, according to CC's directions.  I had to make the actual meal because D was at work (meaning I had to put it in a roasting pan and turn the oven on.).  D probably was laughing because he got lots of texts about the marinade. It smelled so good and flavorful it really took me all I could do not to taste it, since the raw pork had been in it (D used all the marinade and didn't set any aside).  I actually contemplated would food poisoning be worth trying the raw pork marinade. In the end, my sanity won.  So after I let the crust crunch up, I poured the half of the marinade on the pork. 2 hours later I poured the rest.  I'm not sure what the point was, but it seemed like a better thing to do than to pour it down the drain  (note: due to a food poisoning experience on another dish, I don't ever boil a marinade after the pork has been in it...no matter what the directions say).

So after 5.5 hours, the temperature had reached 190.  I let it rest.  D took over cooking the Cuban Black Bean Soup.  And he pulled the pork.  It didn't pull all that well, so he chopped it.  I really wish he would slice because I am not a total fan of meat mash, which is how I view chopped meat.  I managed to pull out all the chunks he missed for my meal.  The taste was outstanding.  I would definitley have again.  I think it would be even better with uncontaminated marinade.

Cuban Roast Pork (Lechon Asado)

From Closet Cooking
A Cuban style slow roasted pork marinated in a super tasty sour orange and garlic mojo sauce.

Servings: makes 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Marinate Time: 12 hours
Cook Time: 5 hours
Total Time: 5 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients
1 bone in, skin on pork shoulder about 4-5 lbs
20 cloves garlic

Photo by ALB
Pork prior to being chopped

1 large onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour (seville) orange juice (or 1 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup lime juice)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 large onion, sliced

Directions (Oven Version with Crackling)
Puree the garlic, onion, sour orange juice, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender, place 2/3 of the mixture into a large sealable bag with the pork and marinate in the fridge overnight.
Pull the pork out of the fridge 1 hour before roasting, take it out of the bag, set it with its skin side up, wipe the skin dry and let sit for 1 hour.
Score the skin in 1/2 inch intervals and rub salt generously into the skin.
Place the pork in a roasting pan, skin side up, roast in a preheated 450F oven for 20 minutes or until the skin has become crackling, ie it has become golden, hardened and crispy.
Reduce the heat to 325F and roast until the pork reaches 170F for slicing or 195F for shredding, about 2-3 hours or 4-6 hours respectively. If the skin starts to get too dark tent it loosely with foil without folding the edges over to prevent steaming. Let the pork rest for 15 minutes, remove crackling and cut into small pieces, discard any extra fat and then slice or shred the pork. Remove the fat from the juices and serve with sliced pork or mix into shredded pork.
Meanwhile heat 2 tablespoons of the juices from the roasting pan in a pan over medium-high heat, add the onion and saute until tender and caramelized, about 7-10 minutes.
Serve the pork with the caramelized onions and remaining mojo.

Directions (Slow Cooker Version)
ALB's note...I would try making the cackling skin like above and then doing the slow cook part.
Puree the garlic, onion, sour orange juice, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender, place 2/3 of the mixture into a large sealable bag with the pork and marinate in the fridge overnight.
Place the pork in a slow cooker/crock-pot with the skin side up along with the marinade and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Let the pork rest for 15 minutes, discard the fat layer and then shred the pork.
Meanwhile heat 2 tablespoons of the juices from the slow cooker/crock-pot in a pan over medium-high heat, add the onion and saute until tender and caramelized, about 7-10 minutes.
Serve the pork with the caramelized onions and remaining mojo.

Tip: Mix some mojo into the pork after pulling it; man is that mojo ever good!