Pork Carnitas recipe needed

[AustinVines]

I am looking for a pork carnitas recipe. I have seen many versions ranging from bland to strange (with coke and pineapple juice in the marinade). Anyone have a tried and true one for me?

 

[AvengeKingTut]

Yep, it sounds like you did the same Internet research that I did a couple of weeks ago. I too was surprised at the variety.

I went the simple route, and largely "winged" it--pork shoulder diced into 1-inch cubes, barely covered in water with some salt added and boiled off, then fried in oil until crisp on the outside, adding some garlic and onion somewhere along the way. Then chopped and eaten in tacos with fixins. Sounds bland, but turned out well because the pork is naturally tasty.

I recall the hardest and most time consuming step being trimming and dicing the pork. I am certainly not a carnitas pro, though, so I am going to monitor this thread to see what the experts say. I'd like to nail it down, b/c carnitas is (are?) one of my favorite Mexican dishes.

 

[Napoleon]

I have no idea on a recipe, but I don't understand the diced thing. (I actually had two diced carnitas tacos with pinapple at a restaurant in Dallas this month.)

Baja Fresh makes their carnitas like pulled pork with an orangish-red marinade. Not fried & dried, but wet and juicy. I definitely prefer it that way.

 

[kujotx]

not too off topic...

We have two small kids and cooking has to be fast. I found a slow-cooker pork recipe for BBQ Pork that was easy.

One can Coke, One bottle of good BBQ sauce, 3-4 lb. Pork for carnitas. Throw it all in your cooker on high and go to work. Shreds perfectly by the time you get home.

On the topic... cubing the carnitas sounds strange. I like my shreds long.

 

[Son of a Son]

Go to HEB and get the "Pork for carnitas", the pieces are not as small as you're talking, but plenty small enough. Then buy a jar of Pasilla de Oaxca (spelling sucks) chile sauce. Pour this into a crock pot with the pork, add some lime juice and a chopped onion, along with a few sprigs of chaopped cilantro and cook for 6-8 hours. The pork will fall apart, pefect for stuffing tortillas.

 

[DoobieWah]

Carnitas

Brown a large pork shoulder or butt in a couple of tablespoons of oil. A large dutch oven is perfect for this dish.

When browned all over, remove from the pot and set aside. Brown a whole onion chopped coarsely.

When brown, toss in two cloves of garlic and three tablespoons of whole cumin seed and one tablespoon of ground cumin. Let that fry until "fragrant", about a minute.

Return the shoulder to the pan and add salt and pepper to taste. Add water, or stock, or beer or any combination to about halfway up the shoulder.

Add a little herbs, (maybe a bay leaf, and/or a teaspoon of dried oregano, some cilantro, etc.). Maybe a dried chili, or two, some fresh chopped jalapeno, some of last year's frozen roasted Hatch peppers, whatever floats your boat, heat wise.

Reduce heat and Cover. Simmer for about three or four hours, (checking the liquid level occasionally).

When falling-off-the-bone tender, remove the roast from the pan and let cool.

Meanwhile, leaving all of the aromatics in the pan, reduce the liquid to about three or four cups.

When cool enough to handle, strain the liquids.

Shred the meat removing any fat, gristle or other nasty bits. You want big slabs of tender meat. Place enough to serve however many you're serving on a foil lined broiling pand, (just the bottom part). Mash all of the meat pieces down flat with a spoon or spat. Brush or spoon some of the liquid over the pieces of meat and broil in the oven until crisp. (Maybe two minutes.)

Serve on warm tortillas with your favorite accompaniments.

Any meat that you didn't broil can be frozen in quart freezer bags with a ladle of the liquid. Press all of the air out and flatten the whole package as much as possible. Freeze and use for a quick supper.

I usually get three meals for three people out of one shoulder.

 

[utexas_61]

ttt

i am going to try and make this today for our cinco de mayo party.