Pernil,
all morning in the oven.

Pernil is the Sunday dish. Every Dominican family has a version, and every version has the same secret: time.

We marinate the pork shoulder overnight — adobo, sour orange (naranja agria), oregano, plenty of garlic, a little salt, and a generous pour of olive oil. The marinade goes deep into the meat through cuts in the skin and the muscle below. Then it sits in the fridge until the next morning, when it goes into the oven low and slow.

After several hours, the meat is fork-tender — pulling apart with no effort, soaked in its own juices. The crackling on top — what we call the cuerito — is what people fight over. Crisp, salty, intensely savory. We crank the heat at the end to get it right.

You can order pernil on its own with rice and beans, in a sandwich (pan con pernil), or topping a mound of mofongo. The pernil sells out on weekends. Come early.