South America: Venezuela: Venezuelan Pernil de Cochino Horneado Pernil (Roast Pork Leg)

INGREDIENTS:

ROAST:

1 pork leg (about 6 Kg)

2 big onions, ½ Kg

17 garlic cloves, crushed

½ cup vegetable oil

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

9 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground

¼ cup wine vinegar

2 tsp fresh oregano, ground

1 thyme sprig

1 bay leave

2 cups orange juice

1 lime

GRAVY:

½ cup wine (Moscatel or Madeira)

¼ tsp black pepper, freshly ground

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp plain flour, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place chopped onion, garlic and oil in a blender. Blend well, pour in a bowl/jug and add the Worcestershire sauce, 7 teaspoons of salt, the black pepper, vinegar, oregano, thyme, bay leave and orange juice.

Remove the excess fat of the pork. Rub with the lime. Wash, dry and rub with the remaining 2 tsp of salt.

Rub the marinade mixture into the pork, place in a big tray and leave in the refrigerator for a whole day. Turn it and baste it a few times. The pork leg must be taken out from the refrigerator ½ hour before roasting it at 400 °F.

Preheat oven to 400 °F.

Place the leg in a big roasting pan. Cover completely with foil. Place in the oven and let it roast until it softens and the meat starts to pull apart from the bone, about 4 hours (40 minutes per Kg approximately).

Turn the oven temperature up to 450 °F. Remove the foil and continue roasting, basting it once in a while and you can also turn it if necessary, in order to brown it evenly. Do this for another 60 minutes (about 10 minutes per Kg).

Remove the pork from the oven and put aside.

Remove the excess grease in the pan and place it on the stove over medium heat. Scrape all the nice bits at the bottom and on the sides of the pan in order to enrich and darken the gravy. Stir in the wine, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and flour. Adjust the seasoning if needed. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Sieve the sauce and use a wooden spoon to press any solids against the strainer. Bring to a boil again and serve hot with the pork, which has been previously cut in thin slices and slightly sprinkled with salt.

The leg should be left to rest for at least 2 hours before carving.

TIP:

Read the whole recipe thoroughly, several times if possible; in order to make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils you need and most importantly, to time it right so you don´t grow hungry looking at it in the oven.

If you prefer to use dried herbs, remember to halve the quantity shown on the recipe.

You can also use fresh orange juice.

You can limit the amount of salt you add when cooking and eating, halve the amount of salt and then adjust if needed.

Make sure you have plenty of room in your fridge and oven for the pork leg, including the tray

Once the foil is removed, all the juices tend to evaporate rather quickly. So I save some of the juices before putting the pork leg back in the oven.