Cuban Smoked Pork with Mojo Injection

UWFSAE

New member
A friend of mine whose family emigrated to Florida after Batista fell used to beg me to do a Cuban-style roast pork rather than a typical pig roast for our summer fraternity cookouts.  Bowing to her wisdom, her dad gave me a recipe that I played around with and came up with a tasty marinade (better as an injection) and rub that has stayed the same since my undergrad years in the 90's.  Since I'm hosting a little cookout in a couple of weeks I decided to dust this one off an feed a bunch of friends after we go on a fishing trip.

Mojo Marinade/Injection
30 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced, mashed into a paste with  mortar & pestle
1 Cup orange juice
1/4 Cup lime juice
1/4 Cup lemon juice
1/4 Cup olive oil
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano, dried
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
2 Tsp kosher salt
2 Tsp ground cumin
1 Tsp orange zest
1 Tsp lime zest

You read that right ... 30 cloves of garlic.  Be sure to use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic into a smooth paste.  Take all ingredients and pulse in a food processor or blender until combined.  Refrigerate 24 hours prior to the injection process.  You may want to make additional mojo for a sauce after the butt is smoked.

Cuban Pork Rub
3 Tbsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp ground black pepper
3 Tbsp Mexican oregano, dried
3 Tbsp onion powder
3 Tbsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp orange zest

Cuban-Style Mojo Smoked Pork Butt
Take a 6-8 lbs. bone-in pork butt and inject the Mojo marinade throughout the meat; wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.  Remove butt from the refrigerator, coat in olive oil and liberally apply the Cuban Pork Rub over the meat.  Place in a cold smoker set to 225 with 2 ounces of apple wood and 2 ounces of cherry wood.  Smoke until you reach an internal temperature of 195, remove and foil and place in a cooler wrapped with towels for up to 90 minutes.  Total cooking time should be 12-14 hours.

Remove, pull into medium sized chunks and serve on Cuban bread or as a protein entree with black beans and rice.  You can apply any reserved Mojo as a sauce after adding two Tbsp of honey and heating to a low simmer until the sauce reduces slightly.
 
I used a slightly modified version of this yesterday. Very nice.  Was going to convert this to burnt ends but... .didn't happen.  Will try again later.  Thanks, good recipe.
 
Woo hoo, this looks fantastic!!  I love the great recipes the folks on here share. Makes my wife think I'm a supahhstahhh!!!!
 
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