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Spit-Roasted Pork Shoulder
20K views
Mar 31, 2025
With all due respect to North Carolina, this is one of the best pork shoulders you’ll ever taste. Studded with garlic and fresh oregano, basted with annatto oil, and spit-roasted to such crackling crispness, people will hear you when you take that first satisfying bite.
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0:00
If America is a nation of barbecue fanatics, we owe it to the Caribbean
0:04
After all, it was there that the Taino Indians developed barbacoa. Our last dish pays homage to the Caribbean-American connection
0:14
Puerto Ricans call it lechon asado. I call it paradise on a plate
0:19
And it starts with a skin-on, seven-pound pork shoulder. Now, the cut of shoulder you want, if you can find it, will be the foreshank
0:28
This is sometimes called a picnic ham. It has part of the foreleg
0:32
and you want, ideally, a pork shoulder with the skin on. Here's what you do
0:39
First, cut through the skin on the bottom, and then you want to just peel it away from the meat
0:47
because what we're going to do is actually we're going to flavor the pork under the skin
0:51
and then spit roast it with the skin on. As you travel around the Puerto Rican countryside
0:58
you'll find lechon asado at roadside barbecue joints. Once the skin is pulled back, using your knife
1:08
you want to make a series of holes in the pork. Then in half the holes, you want to insert slivers of garlic
1:20
And in the other half the holes, you want to insert sprigs of fresh oregano
1:28
Next, the rub. The rub is a variation on what Puerto Ricans call sazon
1:34
It starts with salt, dried oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, and dried sage
1:46
Mix the ingredients for the rub with your fingers and use it to season the pork on all sides
1:58
Now, pull the skin back over the pork, and the way you secure it in place
2:03
is either to pin it with bamboo skewers or tie it with butcher string
2:08
So what I going to do here is make a series of slits in the pork skin And I rigged up a sort of trussing needle
2:19
with a flat bamboo skewer with a hole in the bottom. And this will help me thread the butcher string
2:27
through the pork brine. You want to tie it off. and then bring the string around the pork roast
2:40
and secure the skin from the other side. And you can come around back to this side
2:48
and pin the skin. Then bring it around the bottom through the next hole
2:57
and come back through. What you've done is reattach the pork skin to the pork shoulder
3:10
By the way, that is by far the hardest part of making this recipe
3:16
Now take the spit from your rotisserie and insert it lengthwise through the pork shoulder
3:25
You want to get it centered on the spit. push in the first set of prongs to attach the meat, then the second set of prongs, and
3:39
secure the pork shoulder to the spit. Now, let me show you the grill. This is a wood-burning
3:45
rotisserie. I've set it up as though you were indirect grilling, a couple of logs on one
3:50
side, a couple of logs on the other side. Here in southern Arizona, we're actually burning
3:57
pecan wood. Add a fresh log. Take the rotisserie spit and insert one end in the socket
4:07
and the other end right here and switch on the motor. It's going to happen the pork roast is
4:18
going to gently spit roast The lateral heat will crisp the skin cook the meat juices will drip in the center Cooking time two and a half to three hours Meanwhile let me show you how to make the annatto oil for basting
4:34
Get our first swap out. Ready? Come over your head. Let's clean up, get rid of everything under here
4:44
One of the secrets to a great lechon asado is to baste the meat with annatto oil
4:50
Annatto, sometimes called achiote, is a rust-colored seed with an earthy flavor native to the Caribbean
4:57
So add oil to a saucepan and then add the annatto seed
5:04
And cook the mixture over a high heat until the seeds sizzle and crackle
5:11
And the oil is a bright orange. Annatto was an indigenous Caribbean seasoning
5:17
It was used for cooking, but also as a sort of early sunscreen
5:21
Once the annatto oil is rust-colored, pass it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl
5:34
And use this orange fragrant oil for basting your lechon. You can see this is after about an hour of cooking
5:44
The annatto oil helps the skin crisp, gives you an incredible color, and also a distinctive Caribbean flavor
5:53
While the roast finishes, let me show you how to make the barbecue sauce
5:57
Throughout the Spanish-speaking world, even as far east as the Philippines, people love barbecue sauces made with soft drinks
6:05
So, it starts with ketchup. And your favorite barbecue sauce. and lemon-lime soda
6:19
Finally, black pepper and a little liquid smoke. Combine the ingredients in a pot
6:28
whisk to mix, and simmer until the sauce is thick and richly flavored, about 10 minutes
6:35
Check out our lechon asado. It looks beautiful and the natto aroma is incredible It looks done but of course you always want to check it with an instant meat thermometer
6:48
I'm looking for between 180 and 190 degrees. In the Caribbean, people like their pork well done
6:55
So all you need to do is take the spit off the rotisserie
7:01
and transfer the pork roast to a cutting board. Pull out the first prong, loosen the second prong
7:16
and pull the spit out of the pork shoulder. Take out the other set of prongs
7:26
and then you want to remove the strings and you pull the pork rind off
7:38
and just let it cool for a minute and you'll see it'll become crackling crisp
7:43
Let me get the barbecue sauce. So here is our lemon-lime soda barbecue sauce
7:56
And let me carve the pork. The knife glides through the meat like butter
8:08
And you want to cut this pork rind into bite-sized pieces, which in Puerto Rico are known as chicharrones
8:17
So let's see how we did. A slice of pork. a slice of the rind
8:27
a spoonful of our barbecue sauce this meat is so moist and tender
8:40
this is what the gods must eat in barbecue heaven so from Puerto Rico
8:46
to Primal Grill it's lechon asado
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