Pork Carnitas
Ok. Serious business now. Carnitas. This is some seriously delicious stuff. I absolutely ADORE carnitas. Ok let me just give you the recipe and you can get back to me later so we can obsess about this together <3
Here are some tips:
DO NOT throw away the juice that your carnitas leave behind. Use it when you serve or drizzle some on your meat when reheating IF you have leftovers.
Choose a fatty piece of pork. Pork shoulder is a good option. If your butcher gives you several pieces or slices of fatty pork meat, just tie them together with cooking string and treat it as a whole piece of meat.
Make your own flour tortillas! You can find my recipe here.
In quesadillas.
Toppings can include:
sliced or mashed avocado
guacamole
corn
cilantro/coriander
sour cream
thinly sliced raw red or white cabbage
pickled or fresh jalapeños
grated cheddar
… let your imagination run wild! If you have any other suggestions, leave them in the comments below please! I would love to try anything (or almost. Gotta watch out what I write on the interwebz)!
Ok, now here is the recipe:
What do you need ?
500g pork shoulder
Dry rub
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin powder
some salt and pepper
Other ingredients
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar. If you cannot find the muscovado kind, the darkest kind you an find is also ok
1 tsp dried chipotle chili or regular chili flakes
juice of 2 oranges
1/3 cup or 80ml of beer or if you prefer you can go for a chicken stock instead.
(scroll down for recipe)
What do you need to do?
You can make this recipe in either a slow cooker or a dutch oven.
If you are using a slow cooker, cook on high for 7 hours.
If you are using a dutch oven, cook at 150°C for about 3-4 hours, lid on.
Rub the meat all over with the dry rub. If you are using the chicken stock later instead of the beer, do not use too much salt!
In your DO or slowcooker, pop a little bit of olive oil in the bottom and place your meat on top.
Add all the other ingredients, finishing with the beer and pop the DO in the oven or start the slowcooker timer on high for 7 hours.
I like to turn the meat halfway so all the juices and flavour can mingle nicely.
After cooking, the meat should be so tender is falls apart super easily and you can shred it with two forks.Or if you have one and feel a bit lazy, shred it with your KitchenAid stand mixer ;) Pro-tip for you! Also works with chicken!
Then, grab a stovetop pan, put it on medium high and place the shredded meat in it. Don’t crowd the pan so if you need to, you can do this in batches. Leave to heat and do not stir so the meat caramelises and crisps up. I like to add some of the delicious juice for extra flavour and stickiness thanks to the sugar and orange juice in the sauce.
Once crisped up, you can serve it however you prefer. Classically these are served on some corn or flour tortillas with a few toppings but you can also serve it in a salad.
