Pressure Cooker Garlicky Cuban Pork

This cumin, garlic, citrus marinated pork recipe yields meat as tender as can be, you barely need the forks to shred it. Serve it with its juices over rice or tuck it into tortillas with all your favourite taco toppings. If you don’t have a pressure cooker I’m sure you could use your slow cooker, it would obviously just take much longer to cook. Recipe is adapted from one found in “Dinner in an Instant” by Melissa Clark. Allow about 2 1/2 hours cooking time, plus 1 hour marinating.

Ingredients

• 5 large garlic cloves
• Juice of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp (40ml) olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 kg boneless pork shoulder, rind removed and cut into 4 pieces
• Fresh coriander, for serving
• Lime wedges, for serving
• Hot sauce, for serving
• Rice or tortillas, for serving

Directions

Ina blender or mini food processor, combine the garlic, orange and lemon juice, 1 tbsp olive oil, brown sugar, cumin and salt, process until blended.

Transfer to a large bowl or ziplock bag and add the pork, bay leaf and dried oregano, toss to combine. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour (or refrigerate for up to 6 hours).

Using the saute function set on high, heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in the pressure cooker (or use a large frypan). Remove the pork from the marinate, reserving the marinade, allowing excess marinade to drop back into the bag or bowl. Cook until it is browned on all sides. You will need to do this in batches, transferring the browned pork pieces to a plate as you go.

When all the pork is browned, return the pieces to the pot along with any juices from the plate. If you used a frypan add 1 tbsp water to the pan to deglaze and add this to the pressure cooker as well. Add the reserved marinade to the cooker. Cover and cook on high pressure for 80 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.

Remove the pork from the cooking liquid. Taste the liquid and boil it down if it is too thin or seems bland. Adjust seasoning if necessary and spoon any fat off the top. Shred the meat using your hand or two forks.

Toss the meat with some of the cooking liquid until it is nice and juicy. Serve as you wish, with or without the suggested serving suggestions.

We moved house last weekend, moving is a bugger isn’t it? But this fantastic recipe was part of a lovely family lunch we had today. A big thank you to everyone that helped us with the move and I’m guessing that little house warming I was planning will have to wait a little while…. So I’m sharing this photo from our feast today. Enjoy. Sheryl x