Mojo Pork

Before You Start

Marinate in the fridge only, and discard any marinade left in the dish.

If the pork is not tender after the full time, re-cover and give it another 20 minutes.

Skim the fat from the pan juices before spooning them over.

Making Mojo Pork

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1. Crush the garlic with the salt to a paste. Mix with the orange juice, lime juice, oregano, cumin and oil.

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2. Pierce the pork all over with a sharp knife. Put it in a dish with the onion and pour over the mojo. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 4 hours, turning once.

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3. Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Lift the pork into a roasting tin with the onion and marinade and cover tightly with foil.

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4. Roast for 2 hours 30 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for 30 minutes more until browned and tender.

   Mark done Start 2 hr timer

5. Rest for 15 minutes, then shred the meat and toss it with the pan juices.

   Mark done Start 15 min timer

Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Why It Works

Dry pork is the usual fate of this cut, and the fix is to leave the fat cap on and roast the shoulder slowly, covered for most of the time. Mojo is a Cuban marinade of garlic, sour citrus, oregano and cumin, and it needs to reach deep into a cut that is thick and rich enough to take it. Slow and covered is the rule.

Sour oranges are the traditional base. Where they are hard to find, orange juice mixed with lime juice gets close. Crush the garlic with salt into a paste first, so it dissolves into the juice instead of sitting in lumps. Pierce the pork all over with a knife so the marinade travels into the meat, then keep it in the fridge for at least four hours.

Roast at 160°C / 320°F, covered with foil, until a fork twists the meat apart. Take the foil off for the last 30 minutes to brown the top. Pour the pan juices over the shredded pork and serve with rice and black beans. Skim the fat first.

Storage and Reheating

Keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Freeze for 3 months.

Changing the Recipe

• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

Good With

• Rice and black beans
• Fried plantains
• Pickled red onion
• Yuca

Common Questions About Mojo Pork

Mojo Pork Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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