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Carnitas

Marisabel's family recipe for carnitas. Looking to the web for measurements beyond "make a small cup with your hand..." she discovered David Lebovitz's recipe to be very close to what she had been verbally told. The below represents her version and her notes, including her mom's additions, having used measurements helped along by his recipe.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time4 hours
CourseBrunch, Dinner, Entree
CuisineMexican
Keywordcarnitas, pulled pork, tacos
Servings12
AuthorMarisabel

Equipment

  • large baking dish

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into 4" chunks trimmed of excess fat (but not all of it, you want it to stay a bit moist)
  • 1-1 1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
  • 2 tbsp neutral vegetable oil
  • 1 cup chicken broth or vegetable, in a pinch
  • 1 cinnamon stick (3-4 inches)
  • 3 tsp cumin powder (we love cumin so we tend to up this flavor)
  • 1 1/2 tsp chile powder (some chile powders can be spicy, mine tends to be so I use less when it's just the kids and I)
  • 1 1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
  • 1 large bay leaf (or 2 smaller ones)
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly sliced
  • 1/4 of an orange (or 1/4 cup orange juice)

To Serve

  • tortillas preferably homemade
  • salsa verde preferably homemade
  • finely sliced iceberg lettuce
  • shredded cotija cheese
  • radishes sliced into matchsticks

Instructions

Prepare the Chef!

  • Press play on our "Carnitas, Cumbias & Craft Beer" Spotify playlist! A noted in the full post, music is an important ingredient and also aids in getting the chef in the correct emotional state, less any negative energies spoil the taste of the food.
  • Pick your poison. Perhaps a “una tequilita,” (a shot of tequilla), some strong coffee, or craft beer, like Marisabel would have?

Prepare the Carnitas

  • Chop to size, trim excess fat (if needed) and generously salt pork pieces.
  • Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.
  • Heat oil in a roasting pan or deep dish oven proof cast iron skillet (with lid). Brown the pieces of pork in a single layer, on medium/high turning them as little as possible. You want them to be nicely browned on each side. Cook in batches if needed, don't crowd them.
  • Remove pork from the pot once nicely browned. Blot away any excess oil/fat and pour in a cup of broth, scraping down the pan to release the brown bits.
  • Turn off heat. Add the cinnamon stick, chile powder, cumin, ancho, bay leaf, garlic and squeeze the orange quarter or add the orange juice into the pan, place the pork back into the pot in one single layer if possible, add enough water to submerge them about 2/3 of the way.
  • Braise (uncovered) in the oven for 3 hours. (You can also leave it on the stovetop and simmer, covered) for 3 hours if needed. Turn the pork a few times during coking until there's less than 1/2 cup of liquid. After about 3 hours, check your pork for tenderness/meat is falling apart (may be less depending on how small you cut your pork pieces) remove the pork from the pot onto a dish to cool.
  • Don't discard the liquid in the pan; set aside.
  • After pork has cooled, shred them into bite size pieces, discarding any big pieces of fat. I've used a couple forks before but my mom says your clean hands are the best and quickest tools in the kitchen for this job.
  • Return the pork pieces back into the roasting pan and cook in the oven for a bit longer until the remaining liquid has evaporated. 30min-1hr.  This is by preference.  Some recipes will say to evaporate until the pork is crispy and caramelized...but we like our carnitas partially caramelized- we leave just a trace of liquid.
  • I find that if you turn the shredded pork minimally (maybe twice) then some of the top pieces become caramelized while the inside stays moist.
  • If you're making tacos that night, I'd prep all the things you need for this while the shredded pork is finishing off. We love our tacos simple and flavorful (stovetop heated corn tortillas, freshly made salsa verde, finely sliced iceberg lettuce, and shredded cotija cheese...sometimes finely diced radish).

Notes

Marisabel's notes:
"A few years ago I searched the web for a solid carnitas recipe and found David Lebovitz's recipe was strikingly similar to the one my mom verbally told me. The ingredients are mostly similar with my mom's addition of broth, and orange. And since I feel I'm still learning, I appreciate when there are specific measurements instead of my mom's "create a cup with your hand..." or "a pinch of this..." when her pinches are more like tablespoons. So here's my adapted version with my mom's small additions."
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