Pernil (Roast Pork)

• 4 ½ pound skin-on pork shoulder roast 
• Wet Adobo (recipe below)

Up to 3 days before you serve the roast, set the roast in a bowl, skin side up. With a paring or boning knife, make several slits about 1½ inches wide through the skin of the roast and into the meat. Make the slits as deep as you can. Wiggle a finger in the slits to open them up a bit, then fill each with Wet Adobo, using a teaspoon. Turn the roast over and do the same to all sides. If you have adobo left over, rub it all over the outside of the roast. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 day or up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 450° F. Set the roast skin side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast 1 hour, turn the heat down to 400° F and roast until the skin is deep golden brown and crackly and there is no trace of pink near the bone, about 1 ½ hours. A good rule of thumb for roasting pork is to cook the roast half an hour for every pound.  Let the roast rest at least 15 minutes before carving.  

To serve, remove the crispy skin. It will pull right off in nice, big pieces. Cut them into pieces—kitchen shears work well for this—and pile them up in the center of the platter. Carve the meat parallel to the bones all the way down to the bone. (It will get trickier to carve neat slices as you get near the bone; don’t let that bother you.)