Cuban pulled pork recipes are famous for their special flavor. While some Cuban grandmothers claim such recipes to be among their biggest secrets, in reality it’s rather a matter of trial and error until discovering those ingredients that are the most appealing to your taste. Here’s how the Cuban grandmother of one of my friends used to cook delicious pulled pork:

Ingredients:

• 1 pork shoulder (Boston Butt), about 5-6 lbs, with bone
• 4 onions, chopped
• 15 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 bottle of Mojo sauce
• Zest from one orange
• 1/2 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 1 tablespoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons black pepper, ground
• 2 tablespoons salt

Preparation time: 1 day

Cooking time: 12 hours

Serves: 12

Cooking method:

First, you need to prepare the rub: in a bowl, mix the chopped onions, garlic, Mojo sauce, orange juice, orange zest, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. You can use a whisk for better mixing everything together, until you get a thick paste. Rub the pork shoulder with the paste, taking care to cover it thoroughly. Put the meat in a plastic bag and let it sit in the fridge over night. This will help the meat marinate a bit and get more flavor from the rub paste. However, if this is not possible, you can skip this step.

Put the pork shoulder in a roasting pot, cover it and let it slowly roast in the oven for about 10 hours, at a temperature of 250 – 300 F. By the end of the cooking, check the internal temperature of the meat: it should be 185 F. When ready, let the meat sit for 15-20 minutes, then pull it apart with two forks. Serve it with Cuban black beans or with saffron rice. Optionally, you can add some barbecue sauce on top of it.