Carnitas Tacos!

Carnitas Tacos

Oooooooh how I love you, carnitas. How I love Mexican food in general, si, but... carnitas are something muy especial, mis amigos (that means my friends in case you didn't take Kindergarten Spanish). We've been hankerin' for some slow cooked pork for a while now, and when Riley started really vocalizing it, I knew that was up on the menu. My dad and his girlfriend were visiting from Sacramento to come for dinner and karaoke here in the city, so Riley and I knew we wanted to make something good, but also something we hadn't had in a while. We have made fajitas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, but never carnitas. We took the plunge.

Riley headed to Whole Foods to pick up some pork shoulder, so they turned out well partially because we gave them half a day to cook. While I was at work, Riley took it away and got everything prepared for later. I truly didn't do much for this recipe, except dubbed myself "Official Taste Tester", and had to obviously take about 5 tests. I also crumbled the cotija cheese. So pretty much, I made everything. (False)

These turned out better than any restaurant carnitas I have ever had. Riley, brava!!! The recipe was found online, and can be found by clicking here.

This her recipe, word for word (except our measurement changes). She's a funny gal. Note, as she mentions, the last step is the most important.

Riley made a pickled topping of red onions and carrots, which you can make on your own, or not. 

Ingredients:

3.8 lb pork shoulder or pork butt
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Spices (a lot of chili powder, paprika and cumin, and a little cayenne pepper, ground cinnamon, pepper flakes, and 1 bay leaf- note: “A lot” means a tablespoon or more, and “a little” means a teaspoon or less.
2.5 cups of orange juice
2.5 cups of chicken stock


Directions:

1. Carve the pork shoulder into 3-4 inch chunks. Trim any big pieces of extra fat, if there are any. Don’t remove all the fat, because it will render in the pot and turn into pure awesomeness.

2. Combine the salt, pepper and spices in a bowl, and pour about half of the spice mix onto the pork. The remainder will go into the pot later. Rub the pork pieces to distribute the spices.

3. Get your pot nice and hot, coat the bottom with 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, and sear all the pork. Don’t crowd them in (do multiple batches), and don’t rush it — wait until each side is golden brown before turning.

4. After all the pork is nice and brown, take it out of the pot and deglaze the bottom of the pot by pouring in a little cold chicken stock or water and scraping up all the brown bits.  Put the pork back in the pot and cover with the chicken stock, orange juice, or other braising liquid of your choice.  The liquid should come up almost to the top of the meat, but not cover it entirely.

5. Stir the remainder of the spice mixture into the pot.  Get it up to a boil on the stovetop, and then put the pot, uncovered, into the oven at 300 degrees.  By leaving the cover off, you will allow the liquid to slowly evaporate during the braising process, leaving behind all the spices and flavor which will soak into the meat.  Turn the meat over about once an hour.

6. After about 3-4 hours, the pork should be starting to fall apart and most of the liquid will be gone. Towards the end, if you want to speed up the evaporation, you can put it back on the stovetop over medium-low heat.

7. After most of the liquid is gone, transfer the pork from the pot to a roasting pan or baking sheet. Use two forks to shred the pork chunks into bite-sized pieces.  The idea is to spread the pork out to increase the surface area, so it will caramelize properly.

8. Place the roasting pan under the broiler on high, and watch carefully.  Allow the top to form a brown crust, stir the meat, and repeat once or twice, depending on your preference.  As it broils, it will get crispy on the outside, but the inside of each piece will remain tender and juicy.