Pernil, a puerto rican style roast pork shoulder

Ingredients

• 1 pork shoulder, 4 to 7 pounds (or use fresh ham) 4 or more cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon - dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chili powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil as needed
• 1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup of orange juice
• Lime wedges for serving

Preparation

• Heat oven to 300 degrees. Score meat's skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern.
• Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt and pepper together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty.Blend in the vinegar.
• Rub this mixture well into pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Put pork in a roasting pan and film bottom with water. Roast pork for several hours , turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender.
• Finish roasting with the skin side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking if necessary.
• Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be so tender that cutting it into uniform slices is almost impossible; rather, whack it up into chunks. Serve with lime.

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