Lechon Asado
Ingredients
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- 5 pounds pork shoulder, bone-in, skin-on if available – patted dry
- 10 cloves garlic – mashed to a paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano – crumbled
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup sour orange juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 onion – medium, thinly sliced, divided
Instructions
1. Make the mojo: In a bowl, mash the garlic with the kosher salt to a rough paste. Whisk in the ground cumin, dried oregano, black pepper, sour orange juice, and olive oil until emulsified. Reserve 0.5 cup of this mojo in a covered container and refrigerate for finishing later.
2. Marinate the pork: Score the skin in a crosshatch pattern without cutting into the meat (if skin-on). Pierce the meat all over with a knife. Place the pork in a nonreactive dish and pour the remaining mojo over it, turning to coat well. Cover and refrigerate 8–24 hours, turning once halfway through.
3. Prepare to roast: Remove the pork from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Spread half of the sliced onions in a roasting pan to form a bed and set the pork skin-side up on top. Scrape any clinging marinade from the dish into the pan around the pork.
4. Roast the pork: Roast at 325°F, basting with pan juices every hour, until the pork is very tender and an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part reads 190–195°F, 3.5–4.5 hours. If the surface darkens too quickly, tent loosely with foil.
5. Crisp the skin (optional): For skin-on pork, increase oven to 450°F or broil on high and cook 5–8 minutes, watching closely, until the skin is blistered and crisp.
6. Rest and make the onion mojo: Transfer the pork to a board and rest 20 minutes. Skim fat from the pan juices. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the reserved 0.5 cup mojo with the remaining sliced onions and simmer until the onions just soften, 2–3 minutes; stir in a few tablespoons of the defatted pan juices.
7. Serve: Carve or pull the pork into large pieces. Spoon the warm onion mojo over the meat and drizzle with additional pan juices. Serve immediately.
Lechon Asado is Cuba’s celebratory roast pork, prized for its deep garlic-citrus mojo and meltingly tender meat capped with crackling skin. The flavor centers on sour orange, garlic, oregano, and cumin, which permeate the pork and balance richness with bright acidity. Roast slowly over a bed of onions, it yields succulent slices or shreds, bathed in pan juices and a quick-cooked onion mojo.
Rooted in communal feasts, Lechon Asado traditionally means a whole pig cooked over coals or in a caja china for holidays like Nochebuena. Across the island and the diaspora, the same flavor profile—mojo criollo—defines the dish whether cooked as a whole hog or a shoulder in the oven. The technique has traveled and adapted to home kitchens while preserving Cuban identity through its citrus-garlic marinade and emphasis on texture and celebration.