My Carnitas Recipes

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!

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
• Put the poblano and onion slices in the bottom of a heavy pot. Mix the cayenne, cumin and a pinch of salt and pepper together in a bowl, then use the mixture to season the pork shoulder. Put the pork on top of the vegetables. Add the chicken broth, jalapeno slices, lime zest and juice and orange zest and juice. Cover and cook until tender, 4 to 5 hours.
• Turn the heat up to 450 degrees F, remove the lid and cook until the surface crisps slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pork to a board and let it rest until cool enough to handle, then remove the fat and shred the meat with 2 forks.
• Strain the vegetables from the sauce and set aside. Put the meat in serving dish, add the vegetables and pour over some of the sauce.
• Serve the shredded pork with warm corn tortillas, radishes, pickled jalapenos, pico de gallo, hot sauce, lime wedges and cilantro leaves.

PORK CARNITAS RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven or Cast Iron Pot place the pork, lard, water, garlic, and salt. Cook covered on a medium heat to a boil. Reduce to simmer for about 45 minutes until pork is almost tender.
• Uncover and turn the heat to medium high to reduce the liquid.The meat will start frying in its own fat and lard at this point. Carefully brown the meat at medium low heat stirring frequently until pork is evenly browned. About 15 to 20 minutes. At this point do not over cook or you will get very dry meat.
• Serve with hot tortillas and green salsa.

MY CARNITAS

Steps:

• Place meat in 3 qrt sauce pan, add water until meat is just covered.
• Smack garlic with a knife to release flavor add to pot along with onion, salt, oregano and cumin.
• Bring to boil, skim skum, reduce heat, cover simmer 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Drain meat, place in baking dish, sprinkle evenly with season salt and garlic powder.
• You have a few options here.
• You can either bake it whole, break into chunks (Dh prefers this) or shred thickly (I prefer) I usually do some chunks and shreds.
• Bake 30-45 minute You do not want it to get to crispy if you shredded it first. Watch carefully as you do not want it to dry out.
• While still warm shred with 2 forks if left whole.
• Serve with warm tortillas and pico de gallo.

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.

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).

PORK CARNITAS

Steps:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Season the pork shoulder with salt, then arrange the pork in the Dutch oven. Cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, lime juice, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. Pour in the chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and continue to simmer until pork is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Transfer the pork shoulder to a large baking sheet, reserving the cooking liquid. Drizzle with a small amount of the reserved cooking liquid and lightly season with salt.
• Bake the pork in the preheated oven until browned, about 30 minutes. Drizzle more of the cooking liquid on the meat every 10 minutes, and use two forks to shred the meat as it browns.

SIMPLE CARNITAS

Steps:

• Place the pork shoulder, oranges, onion, garlic, kosher salt, cumin, black peppercorns, and bay leaves into a large Dutch oven. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. Cover loosely, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Allow the pork to cool, covered, in the broth for 1 hour. Shred the meat with two forks.