{"id":33392,"date":"2024-12-07T03:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T03:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/?p=33392"},"modified":"2025-12-21T20:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T20:34:11","slug":"bexs-puerto-rican-pernil-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/es\/bexs-puerto-rican-pernil-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Pernil puertorrique\u00f1o de Bex para las fiestas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Puerto Rican pernil recipe is one of the stars of el show at Bex Streeper<\/a>\u2019s Christmas dinner table. There are no leftovers, she says. Ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bex, who lives in Des Moines, Iowa, grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a Polish mom and Puerto Rican dad. When she married her husband, she learned to master one more Latino family cuisine: Mexican. During the holidays, she celebrates this rich and delicioso combo of food cultures by including recipe traditions from all side of their family heritage. To honor her Puerto Rican roots, Bex makes this Puerto Rican pernil , a slow-cooked cut of pork shoulder or leg that is marinated overnight and placed into a low-temp oven for hours, until the meat falls off the bone. (She also serves this pernil with arroz con gandules<\/a>: rice with pigeon peas \u2014 the classic Nochebuena combo on the island.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso, my family would kill me if I didn\u2019t make it,\u201d Bex says. (And in tribute the Mexican side of her family, she hosts a tamalada party <\/a>every early December, to her mother in law\u2019s and husband\u2019s delight. She makes three kinds, including their family favorites: pork and red salsa tamales<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bex says she loves adding personal tweaks or her \u201ccooking diva twists,\u201d as she calls them, to all of her dishes and seeing how the recipes evolve over time. This pernil, which she has been making for the past 17 years, she explains, is the culmination of her own experimentation and insider cooking tips she learned from friends and family, gifted homecooks all.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Pernil
Every Navidad, Bex Streeper makes this Puerto Rican-style pernil, slow-cooked pork shoulder, and serves it with arroz con gandules<\/a>: the classic Christmas combo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cMy seasoning is strictly from observing my Dad,\u201d Bex says, adding that many of the spice blends she uses are his. Bex credits a close family friend, Betsy Montalvo, who is like a t\u00eda and second mom to her, as the first person to teach her how to make Puerto Rican pernil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bex has since made this pork roast recipe her own by adding cloves of garlic into pockets she cuts into the pernil, separating the fat cap, and tweaking the seasoning mixes. Other Christmas-feast Boricua traditions in Bex\u2019s family include making pasteles<\/a>, coquito<\/a> and arroz con gandules<\/a>. Way to represent Puerto Rico deliciosamente, Bex!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Bex
Bex mixes a head of garlic with olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper to make this Puerto Rican mojo used to marinate her Christmas pernil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To try more of Bex\u2019s family-famous Puerto Rican and Mexican recipes, start with her Familia Kitchen Recipe Contest-mofongo with shrimp<\/a> and mojo sauce, her shrimp ceviche<\/a> and then work your way through her guacamole<\/a>, sopes de carne asada<\/a>, chili with beef, beans and hominy<\/a>, and her incredible coquito French toast<\/a>. If you have a sweet tooth, this last one is for you, dulce fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ready to Make Bex\u2019s Puerto Rican Pernil for the Holidays?<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Bex\u2019s\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t \n\t \t\n \n <\/svg>\n\t Print<\/span>\n\t <\/a>\n\t <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t

Bex\u2019s Puerto Rican Pernil for the Holidays<\/h2>\n\n
\n \t\t \t\t\tRecipe by Bex Streeper<\/span>\n \t\t\n
\n\t\t\t\t