Recipe for Arepas de Pernil

Making the perfect Arepas de Pernil should only take approximately 1 day 4 hr 55 min . It’s considered an Intermediate level recipe. Below are the ingredients and directions for you to easily follow. The Arepas de Pernil recipe can feed your family for 6 arepas, plus extra pork.

There are many different ways to make this Arepas de Pernil recipe. Once you’re familiar with our recommended ingredients and directions, you can add your own twist to this recipe to make it your own! We’ve also listed potential Cookware items below that might be necessary for this Arepas de Pernil recipe.

Arepas de Pernil Popular Ingredients

• 2 cups Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound guava paste
• 1/4 cup mixed peppercorns
• 6 ounces fresh ginger, peeled
• 1/3 cup whole fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 bunches fresh oregano
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 6 non-alcoholic malt beverage (Recommended: Maltas)
• Kosher salt
• 1 (8 to 11-pounds) bone-in pork shoulder
• 1 cup canola oil
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 2 cups mango puree
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (about 2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons papelon, panela or sugar cane
• Kosher salt
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cups cornmeal
• Tomato slices, for serving

Steps for making Arepas de Pernil

1. For the pernil: In a blender, combine the Worcestershire, guava paste, peppercorns, ginger, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, bay leaves, oregano, and garlic. Transfer the marinade to a Dutch oven or other large pot; stir in the malt beverage. Add the pork; cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
2. For the mango sauce: Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a small saucepan over medium heat; add the garlic and jalapeno. Fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and jalapeno; transfer to a blender. Add the mango puree, olive oil, cilantro and papelon; blend until smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use.
3. When pork is ready to cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until the meat shreds easily with a fork, about 4 hours. Shred the pork; reserve about 1 cup pork and freeze the remainder for another use.
4. For the arepas: Before serving, place 2 1/2 cups water in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon salt and oil; slowly pour the cornmeal into the water. Knead together the cornmeal and water until blended and smooth. With wet hands, divide the dough into 6 even portions. Roll each dough portion into a ball; pat it into a 3 to 4-inch disk, about 1/2-inch thick.
5. Heat oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat; add the arepas. Cook the arepas until golden brown on both sides, turning once, about 10 minutes. Transfer the browned arepas to a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.
6. To serve, partially split the hot arepas (not all the way around); remove some dough to make room for your filling. Fill the arepas with warmed pulled pork, 3 tomato slices, and a dollop of mango sauce. Serve immediately.

Popular Categories for this Recipe

• Skillet Recipes
• Pork – Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC.Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved. Curing extends the shelf life of the pork products. Ham, smoked pork, gammon, bacon and sausage are examples of preserved pork. Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork.Pork is the most popular meat in the Western world and in Central Europe. It is also very popular in East and Southeast Asia (Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Singapore, East Timor, and Malaysia). It is highly prized in Asian cuisines, especially in China, for its fat content and texture.Some religions and cultures prohibit pork consumption, notably Islam and Judaism.
• Cornmeal – Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be. In Mexico, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour. When fine cornmeal is made from maize that has been soaked in an alkaline solution, e.g., limewater (a process known as nixtamalization), it is called masa harina (or masa flour), which is used for making arepas, tamales and tortillas. Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also a traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.
• Grain Recipes
• Tomato – Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) H. Karst.Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.The tomato is the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant. The species originated in western South America and Central America. The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derived. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the Aztecs, they brought the plant to Europe. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century.Tomatoes are a significant source of umami flavor.The tomato is consumed in diverse ways, raw or cooked, in many dishes, sauces, salads, and drinks. While tomatoes are fruits—botanically classified as berries—they are commonly used as a vegetable ingredient or side dish.Numerous varieties of the tomato plant are widely grown in temperate climates across the world, with greenhouses allowing for the production of tomatoes throughout all seasons of the year. Tomato plants typically grow to 1–3 meters (3–10 ft) in height. They are vines that have a weak stem that sprawls and typically needs support. Indeterminate tomato plants are perennials in their native habitat, but are cultivated as annuals. (Determinate, or bush, plants are annuals that stop growing at a certain height and produce a crop all at once.) The size of the tomato varies according to the cultivar, with a range of 1–10 cm (1⁄2–4 in) in width.
• Roasting – Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least 150 °C (300 °F) from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization and Maillard browning on the surface of the food. Roasting uses indirect, diffused heat (as in an oven), and is suitable for slower cooking of meat in a larger, whole piece. Meats and most root and bulb vegetables can be roasted. Any piece of meat, especially red meat, that has been cooked in this fashion is called a roast. Meats and vegetables prepared in this way are described as “roasted”, e.g., roasted chicken or roasted squash.

You might need the following Cookware

In this section we’ve listed Cookware items that might be helpful to make this Arepas de Pernil recipe (or similar recipes). If certain tools or utensils are not applicable, then ignore and choose relevant items.

• Cooking pots
• Frying pan
• Steamers
• Colander
• Skillet
• Knives
• Cutting board
• Grater
• Saucepan
• Stockpot
• Spatula
• Tongs
• Measuring cups
• Wooden Spoon