Trinidad roast pork . Pork is one of the main foods enjoyed around the Christmas holidays in Trinidad and Tobago. It is used traditionally to make pastelles, garlic pork, and today’s recipe, Trini style roast pork: one of my favorite. This cooking method (roasting) causes the the pork to caramelize on the surface and enhances the flavor of the meat giving you a flavourful “cripsy” skin roast pork when done. Roasting is ideal for a large, whole piece of meat and is quite easy. The meat, basically, is seasoned with fresh Trini herbs like chadon beni and thyme or green seasoning and then marinated. After, it is placed in a roasting pan. Since I didn’t have a roasting pan with a rack I had to do some improvising… You’ll see what I came up with.. What youll need. 1 pork shoulder, 4 to 7 pounds 8 cloves garlic, peeled 1 large onion, quartered 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil, as needed 1 tablespoon cider vinegar habanero or scotch bonnet pepper, to taste Lemon or vinegar for washing meat CWR’s notes—Oregano can be replaced with a minced scallion, 1 sprig thyme or a bunch of cilantro or culantro. 1. Wash meat with lemon or vinegar. Rinse, drain and pat dry. Score meats skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern. Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, habanero or scotch bonnet, 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. 2. Rub this mixture well into pork. You may also make deep slits in the meat to place seasoning. Marinate overnight or several days(cover with plastic wrap). 3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove pork from refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Put pork in a roasting pan skin side down and fill bottom with 2 cups water. Roast pork uncovered (at 400°) for one hour. After one hour, lower heat to 300° turning roast skin side up and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender about 3-4 hours [on my 7.5 lb. roast, the outside of the roast was very tender but the inside could have cooked longer for a falling apart texture] . 4. At the end of cooking, place under the broiler for 5 minutes to crisp skin(or cook for an additional 15 minutes at 400 degrees F). Let meat rest for 20 minutes before cutting. Serve with rice and beans..or in a sandwich... Cooking with ria .
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 14:23:44 +0000