Citrus-garlic mojo-marinated roast pork served with black beans, rice and boiled yuca for a Cuban holiday spread.
This is a home-cook-sized version of the classic Cuban Noche Buena holiday plate, built around lechon asado -- pork marinated in mojo, a tangy blend of sour orange (or lime and orange) juice, garlic and oregano -- served with the trio Cuban tables lean on for celebrations: white rice, black beans, and boiled yuca dressed in more mojo. Instead of roasting a whole pig, this recipe scales the technique down to a pork shoulder that any home oven can handle. The marinade is the heart of the dish: plenty of garlic mashed into a paste with salt, mixed with citrus juice and oregano, rubbed all over the pork and left to soak in for at least four hours, ideally overnight. Slow-roasting the pork covered for most of the cooking time keeps it moist, then uncovering it at the end lets the exterior crisp and caramelize into the crackly bits Cuban cooks fight over at the table. Boiled yuca finished with its own quick mojo -- garlic sizzled in olive oil poured hot over the drained root -- echoes the pork's citrus-garlic flavor and rounds out a plate that Cuban families build entire holidays around.
Serves 6
Mash 6 garlic cloves with 1 teaspoon salt into a paste. Whisk with sour orange juice, oregano, cumin and a quarter cup olive oil.
Pierce the pork all over with a knife, then rub with the marinade, working it into the slits. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Place pork with its marinade in a roasting dish, cover tightly with foil, and roast 2.5 hours until very tender.
Uncover, raise oven to 425F (220C), and roast 20 to 25 more minutes until the surface is deeply browned and crackly.
Baste with the pan juices halfway through this final blast for extra shine and flavor on the crust.
While the pork roasts, boil yuca in salted water 20 to 25 minutes until fork-tender. Drain.
Heat remaining olive oil in a small pan with 4 minced garlic cloves and sliced onion until fragrant and lightly golden. Pour hot over the drained yuca.
Let the pork rest 15 minutes, then slice or shred. Serve with rice, black beans, the mojo yuca, and lime wedges.
Marinate overnight if possible -- the citrus and garlic need real time to penetrate a cut this large.
Pierce the pork deeply and evenly with a knife before rubbing the marinade so flavor reaches the interior.
Watch the yuca closely once tender -- it goes from firm to mushy quickly, so drain the moment a fork slides in easily.
Whole roast alternative: use a bone-in pork butt and extend covered roasting time by 30 to 45 minutes.
Grilled version: after marinating, grill smaller pork pieces over indirect heat, basting with reserved marinade.
Skip the yuca: substitute boiled plantains or a simple avocado salad if yuca isn't available.
Refrigerate pork, beans and rice separately in airtight containers up to 4 days. Reheat pork covered in a low oven with a splash of its juices to keep it moist; the yuca is best reheated briefly in a hot skillet to re-crisp the mojo.
Lechon asado and mojo-marinated pork are central to Cuban Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) celebrations, a tradition rooted in Spanish colonial roasting techniques adapted with Caribbean sour orange and garlic. Whole roasted pigs remain traditional for large family gatherings, while home cooks commonly scale the same mojo technique down to a manageable cut like pork shoulder.
Yes -- mix two-thirds orange juice with one-third lime juice to approximate the tartness of true sour orange, which can be hard to find outside Latin markets.
Boiled potatoes or plantains dressed with the same garlic mojo make a reasonable substitute in texture and flavor role on the plate.
It likely needs more time at low heat -- pork shoulder needs to reach a very tender, almost falling-apart stage, which can take longer than 2.5 hours depending on the cut's size and your oven.
Per serving (480g / 16.9 oz) · 6 servings total
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