OK, good. Yeah, more garlic. This is my next attempt: I'm reducing the
lime and lemon. I'm going to try adding orange zest for bitterness and I
will crush the peppercorns this time. I'm going to add a little sugar for
this next run. I'm going to baste more often too.

Marinate 5 pounds of shoulder for 18-24 hours in:

1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime
1/4 cup oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
2 heads of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 crushed bay leaves
zest from the oranges
1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper corns

Cooking for 7 hours at 225F. Baste every hour.


----- Original Message -----

"aem" > wrote in message
...
> On Apr 6, 2:39 am, "Paul M. Cook" > wrote:
>> "Giusi" > wrote in message
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > "Paul M. Cook" > ha scritto nel messaggio
>> ...
>> >> Marinated 5 pounds of shoulder for 12 hours in:
>>
>> >> 1 cup orange juice
>> >> 1/2 cup lemon juice
>> >> 1/2 cup lime
>> >> 1/4 cup oregano
>> >> 1 head of garlic chopped
>> >> 1 tablespoon salt
>> >> 3 crushed bay leaves
>> >> teaspoon pepper corns
>>
>> >> Cooking for 7 hours at 225F.
>>
>> >> My place smells like heaven.
>>
>> > I can smell it from here! Can't think when I will ever again see 1/2
>> > cup
>> > of lime juice, though.
>>
>> You'd think it would overpower the dish but in fact it didn't. I tried
>> to
>> reverse engineer the perfect recipe once before and I used much more
>> timid
>> amounts of lime juice. It didn't work out well. I tried the paste style
>> marinades with only a few tablespoons of citric acid and it just did not
>> work either. I could barely taste the citric juices.
>>
>> Next attempt will include cumin and sugar and a longer marinade time.
>> Probably do that this weekend. This attempt was good but it can be a
>> lot
>> better. I am thinking my oranges just did not have much flavor. I think
>> I
>> will zest them next time.
>>
> Orange zest would be good, sour oranges better. Look for sour orange
> juice in cans; if you find it you don't need the lime and lemon
> juices, though you can use them if you like. Cumin would be good,
> sugar doubtful. My experience assisting a Cuban friend with similar
> dishes says one head of garlic is not nearly enough. Increasing the
> marinade time would help flavorwise, don't know if it might threaten
> too much textural breakdown from the acid. My friend always marinates
> for a day or more. My version of Cuban-style black beans uses vinegar
> (cider) rather than lemon juice. -aem
>
>