Picture from: joyouslydomestic Image Credit: Angela |
Angela’s
Pork Carnitas
"The recipe calls for using pork butt, but I used a boneless pork loin. It worked just fine, but I plan to follow the instructions and use pork butt in the future. I think the extra marbling and fat is necessary ... I had to drizzle some olive oil on mine this time before broiling at the end due to lack of fat." Angela
Ingredients:
4 pound
boneless pork butt or roast, fat trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes (mine was
just over 3
pounds, but worked fine)
1 ½ teaspoons
salt
¾ teaspoon
pepper
1 teaspoon
ground cumin
1 onion,
peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon
dried oregano
2 tablespoons
fresh lime juice
2 cups water
1 medium
orange, juiced and "spent halves" reserved
Olive Oil (as
needed)
Preparation:
Adjust oven
rack to lower position and preheat oven to 300°F.
Combine all
of the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, including the spent orange halves and
juice.
Bring the
mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.
Once it
simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven.
Cook until
the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours. (Mine was ready
about
20 minutes short of two hours.)
Remove the
pot from the oven and turn on the broiler.
Use a slotted
spoon to remove the meat from the pan and place it on a large foil-lined jelly
roll
pan.
Remove and
discard everything from the pot except for the cooking liquid.
Place pot
over high heat on the stove and boil until thick and syrupy ... mine took only
about 5
minutes, but it can take up to 20 minutes.
You should
have about 1 cup of liquid remaining when it is finished.
When you
remove the meat from the oven after cooking until tender, you should have a
decent
amount of liquid remaining after removing the meat.
If you don't,
you can add in a little chicken stock, water or some more juice from another
orange.
This is what
I had to do ... I opted for additional orange juice.
While the
liquid is reducing, use two forks to pull each cube of pork into three equal
sized
pieces.
Once the
liquid has becomes thickened, gently fold in the pieces of pork to the pot.
Try not to
break up the pork any further.
Taste and add
additional salt and pepper as needed.
Spread the
pork back onto the foil-lined pan and evenly spread the meat around so that
there is
a single layer of meat. (I drizzled on a little olive oil because my
cut of pork wasn't very fatty and
the meat needed some oil to help with the
browning process.)
Place the
jelly roll pan on the middle rack of the oven and broil until the top of the
meat is well-
browned and edges are slightly crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Using a wide
metal spatula, flip the pieces of meat and broil the other side until
well-browned
and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve
immediately in a tortilla with all of your favorite toppings.
Enjoy this
amazing recipe and many more when visiting joyouslydomestic
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