Crispy Carnitas Recipe Authentic Mexican

CARNITAS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Pat the pork butt dry with a paper towel. Use a large, sharp knife to trim away excess fat. Cut the pork butt into 1" thick slices. Then, cut each slice into 1" cubes.
• Transfer the pork to a 4-5 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven. Add all of the dry spices, and massage them onto the pork with your hands.
• Add the orange juice, lime juice, and a 1/2 cup water to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Add the bay leaves, cover, and transfer to the oven.
• Cook for 2 hours. Remove from the oven, and turn on the broiler on high. Have ready a rimmed sheet pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to the prepared sheet pan. Using the tines of a fork, gently press down on the pork to ever-so-slightly break it apart.
• Place the pork under the broiler, and watch closely so that it does not burn. As soon as the pork begins to tinge with dark brown hues and crisps up on the edges, remove it from the oven. Depending on your broiler, this could take anywhere from 1- 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Place the Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat and allow to come to a simmer. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the cooking liquid and allow to simmer until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Either add the pork back to the Dutch oven and stir or brush the sauce lightly over the carnitas. Serve with tortillas and your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!

PORK CARNITAS (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)

Steps:

• Rinse and pat dry pork with a paper towel.
• In the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker, add pork, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, onion, garlic, lime juice, orange juice, coke, and bay leaves.
• Cover and cook on low heat setting for 8-10 hours, or high heat for 5-6 hours (until the meat falls apart).
• Remove pork and shred with two forks (DO NOT DISCARD THE LIQUID!)

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN PORK CARNITAS RECIPE CARD

Steps:

• In a small bowl place oregano, cumin, black pepper, salt, chili powder,and cinnamon, then mix thoroughly.
• Put the pork shoulder in the slow cooker and add the onion, garlic, limes, bay leaves, water and spice mixture.
• Cover and cook for 6 hours on high. Flip over every couple hours in the slow cooker. Check after 5 hours or so and cook until it separates easily with a fork.
• Heat oven on broiler.
• Move meat to a large cutting board and using two forks begin the shred the meat.
• Place the meat in a single layer on a baking tray, and broil for about 5 minutes.
• Serve with flour or corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and hot sauce.

CRISPY PORK CARNITAS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
• Remove fat from pork; cut pork meat into 2-inch cubes and roughly chop fat.
• Mix pork, garlic, olive oil, orange peel, orange juice, salt, bay leaves, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and 5-spice powder together in a bowl until pork is coated completely. Transfer mixture to a 9x13-inch baking dish. Place baking dish on a baking sheet and cover baking dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven until pork is fork-tender, about 3 1/2 hours.
• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler.
• Transfer meat to a colander set over a bowl. Remove garlic, bay leaves, and orange peels from baking dish and pour accumulated juices from the baking dish over meat in colander into the bowl. Return meat to the baking dish and drizzle accumulated juices over each piece of meat.
• Cook meat under the preheated broiler for 3 minutes. Drizzle more accumulated juices over meat and continue broiling until crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer pork to a serving plate and drizzle more accumulated juices over the top.

RONALDO'S BEEF CARNITAS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Place roast on heavy foil large enough to enclose the meat. In a small bowl, combine the green chile peppers, chili powder, oregano, cumin, garlic and salt to taste. Mix well and rub over the meat.
• Totally wrap the meat in the foil and place in a roasting pan.
• Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, or until the roast just falls apart with a fork. Remove from oven and shred using two forks.

CARNITAS (AUTHENTIC)

Steps:

• Cut pork meat into chunks and discard the big pieces of fat. (I leave some fat as it adds flavor).
• Add pork chunks, broth, garlic*, comino*, onion* and cilantro* to a dutch oven. If necessary, add water so that the meat is covered.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3 -4 hours or until meat is very soft and pulls apart easily. (Be careful not to shred meat, needs to stay in chunks).
• Remove the meat carefully from pot and place in a roasting pan. Discard onion and broth. Break the meat apart into smaller chunks (don't shred, it needs to stay in chunks).
• Bake in the oven at 450°F for about 20 minutes or until the meat is brown and crispy.
• Heat (or make homemade) corn tortillas, serve with desired toppings.
• (You may have to adjust garlic, comino, onion and cilantro to your liking, everyone's taste is different. You can add salt and pepper if you like too, I use Nature's seasonings, personal preference).

MEXICAN CARNITAS

Steps:

• Place meat in a medium-size roasting pan. Sprinkle with garlic and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from one orange and the lemon over the meat. Slice the remaining oranges and place over the meat. , Cover and bake at 350° for about 2 hours or until meat is tender. With a slotted spoon, remove meat and drain well on paper towels. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet and fry meat in batches until browned and crispy. , Serve warm in tortillas with toppings of your choice. Freeze option: Freeze cooled pork mixture in freezer containers. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Fry meat in batches as directed until crispy and brown. Serve as directed.