Cuban Pork Recipe...you know the first post in two years...

The last two years have been crazy!  I use IG a lot to share updates, food, support and create.
I like the space and it is about all the time I have some days.
I recently posted a recipe on Cuban pork and would love to share it...I thought a longer blog post might be easier to navigate.

The original recipe we used is here with some changes on how we cooked it.




You will need:
-Pork shoulder (ours was around 7lbs)
-6 garlic gloves
-1/4 cup of olive oil
-2 cups of OJ
-2 limes, zest and juice from both
-4 tsp of cumin (or a little more if you like cumin)
-1TB oregano (I used dried and worked great)
-1/2 cup mint leaves (fresh, 1/2 if you are using dried...we did fresh)
-1/2 cup cilantro (fresh!)

Mix all the ingredients except the pork in a bowl or food processor.  We have this immersion blender (so I used a a bowl), I have the older model and it is wonderful for soup making and milkshakes. They also have this one on amazon.  It blends nicely with the hand/immersion blender and smells amazing!

Put the pork in a large bowl and pour the marinade over, it should cover about 3/4 of the meat or so.  Cover and and let it soak in the wonderful flavor at least 6hrs...but who has time for that planning, so just leaving over night and take it out first thing in the morning **unless you are going to smoke it overnight then adjust and prep as you wish**
Take out the meat in the morning and let it reach room temperature.
We decided to smoke the meat first.  We received this fun grill for Christmas and wanted to test it out.
After reading up on the all the grilling masters forums, we found that 2-4 hours is a range for absorbing the most flavor.  We smoked for 2.5 hours and then transferred to a roasting pan and cooked in the oven at 225 for 7ish hours.

We loved it and will to do it again...next time we are going to try the all day grilling approach but, you can easily do it in the oven.  The linked recipe above shows a much higher heat.  Anytime I have made a roast shoulder in the oven it is always done on low heat over many hours.  It can be adapted for the instant pot as well but you won't get the crispy layer unless you finish it in the oven.  You can slice and eat once you have hit the optimal internal temp, or for us keep cooking until it falls apart.
We make tacos, wraps, put it on sweet potatoes with a fried egg, and other times ate it straight from the pot.  If you run out of time or want to try it both sliced and shredded, slice the first night and then 2nd put it in a dutch oven with any left over juice and a splash of broth if you need it.  Cook it on the stove top and it will fall apart : )

Make it!  It is supper easy and you will love it!

ps the links above are affiliated...this means I get credit for telling you about cool stuff at no increase cost to you!  Thanks for checking them out!