Cuban Style Mojo Pork With Mandarin Squeezed Juice

Cuban Style Mojo Pork with Mandarin Squeezed Juice

Serves 4

Prep time 20 minutes

Braising time 2 1/2-3 hours

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3-4 pound pork shoulder or butt, bone in and scored*

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt

1/2-1 teaspoon black pepper

Pinch of red chili flakes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon onion powder

6 cloves of garlic

5-6 sprigs of fresh oregano

1 navel orange or Mandarin orange, sliced

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

2-3 sprigs of lemon thyme or regular thyme

1 11-ounce bottle of mandarin Squeezed Juice

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet/braiser over medium-high heat and add the scored pork butt.
2. Brown the meat and season liberally with salt and pepper, chili flakes, oregano, and onion powder.
3. Tuck garlic cloves into the scores.
4. Place sliced onion, orange slices, and thyme alongside the meat in the skillet. Pour the mandarin Squeezed Juice around the edges to deglaze. Place the lid on top.
5. Braise 2 1/2-3 hours or until the pork is fall apart tender. 
6. For the last 10 minutes, remove the lid and increase the heat to 450 degrees to brown and caramelize the fat cap. 

7.     Serve as tacos or over rice. Enjoy!

*Using a sharp knife, score the top/fat cap of the pork butt by making long parallel cuts across it, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Rotate the pork a half turn and make similar cuts across your first cuts, creating a cross-hatch pattern.