Puerto Rican Christmas Pernil, Los Angeles Times, 2019
Pasteles and pernil are how I define Puerto Rican Christmas. And although pork is a fixture on the Puerto Rican table, it is just not Christmas without pernil. Nana would season the pork roast the day before Christmas Eve: She’d heave the lifeless pink blob of pork on the counter, puncture it all over with the tip of a knife and stuff a clove of garlic into each hole, studding it beyond belief. Then she’d massage it with salt, pepper and a contentious amount of oregano.
The morning of Nochebuena — Christmas Eve, Nana would slowly come down the stairs still in pajamas and turn on the oven. By the time her water was boiling for coffee, it’d be time to put the pernil in.
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