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[Lothar1974]

Looking to find a good carnitas recipe for an upcoming party.  Hoping someone has one? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Carnitas - One tub of lard. Heat lard and add cut up pork butt. Cook till browned.  Add in sweetened condensed milk, one orange squeezed (add one half in pot) add one bottle of real sugar classic coke, one onion, 6 cloves garlic, 2 tables spoons oregano, one tsp salt, one tsp pepper, one two cumin, 4 bay leaves and a couple cups water to bring level to top of pot.  Low simmer for 3 hours. Take meat out (drain as much as you can) and shred meat. Then it desired at some coconut oil to trying pan add carnitas and crisp up o your liking.







I ran out of time and bagged it and put in the fridge.  Will crisp up a little tomorrow and serve.  I did try it and liked the flavor so far.

[SmokinHandyman]

Looking to find a good carnitas recipe for an upcoming party.  Hoping someone has one? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Never heard of carnitas
What are they?

[bregent]

For me, the best carnitas has crispy exterior, but I don't want to deep fry all that pork so I use this recipe. Made it a few times and it came out great:

[Free Mr. Tony]

I'll bet FMT can help.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but that is one dish I've never prepared. I ordered it plenty though. The best ones I've had appeared to be slow cooked possibly confit style, then deep fried in small chunks that held their shape until bitten into. The worst ones were essentially just pulled pork tacos. Which aren't bad, but I wouldn't consider them carnitas.

[Bentley]

We used to eat them in Tijuana, cant remember the name of the place, something like the 3 little pigs. It was down the road from The Tijuana Country Club.

It is a fairly simple process, but some find laborious and messy.  You want Traditional...Get a big copper kettle, cut a pork butt into about 10 pieces and cook it in Lard till it is tender, then with a big ole cleaver on about a 4 ft cutting board with about a 3 inch indentation it from 50 years of doing this, you hack the big pork into small chunks.  You immediately take that to the table, with a basket of fresh made corn tortillas, a plate of highly seasoned beans, and another plate of garnishes, down there it was cilantro, onions, radishes and limes.  And then you dig in!

It truly was that simple.

That is my tradition of Carnitas.  I have seen folks cook them in water and spices till tender and the reduce and call Carnitas.  I have seen people add all kinds of stuff to the lard before it is cooked and then fry and call it traditional...I guess it depends on who you ask and what part of Mexico you are in as to how authentic it is...

Recipe should feed 10-15 people.

1 Pork Butt cut into baseball size chunks.  Do not trim fat.
1 gallon Lard
24 Corn Tortillas
1 bunch cilantro (I hate the stuff)
3 large Spanish onions fine chop
3 bunches radishes
10 limes (again, not my cup of tea with pork)
5 cans refried beans.

Melt Lard in pan, cook pork on as low a heat as you can, usually 30-45 minutes, string occasionally.  Should probe tender when it is ready.  Let rest 5 minutes, chop into small chunks, serve with beans and condiments.

[LowSlowJoe]

I know almost nothing about carnitas... and not much more about authentic Mexican.

I was in what's known as "Mexican town", a area on the southwest side of Detroit, you know, just north of Canada , not to far from the Ambassador Bridge, where the locals are largely Hispanic...  Went to a restaurant there , the food was quite good....  a older gentleman who I believe was the owner of the establishment came and asked how are food was, etc...   We raved about it, and started talking a little about how it's prepared and such.  Now, this was like 20  years ago, so I don't remember his exact words...    but he effectively said, Mexican food is pretty simple, only about half dozen spices used... 

 near as I know, those would be something like ... salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cumin, and hot peppers.

[bregent]

Anova has a great recipe for smoked and then sous vide chuck roast that makes fabulous taco fillings.  Of course good corn tortillas, and a bunch of sides likes seasoned or refried beans, cilantro, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, shredded queso fresco, etc. to add as desired.  Hot sauces of choice (Topatio, Cholula, salsa, etc.).

Carnitas is pork, not beef. But I've seen a few recipes for SV carnitas - haven't tried any yet.

[bregent]

Here's the recipe I make a few times a year. I eat a lot of carnitas - almost every week. It's my filling of choice for tacos and burritos.  This recipe renders the fat from the pork shoulder while it's braising, and then once the liquid is gone, the meat fries in the rendered fat. The tricky part is to put in just enough liquid so that the right tenderness is achieved by the time the liquid has boiled off. Too much liquid and the pork will get too tender so it won't stay in chunks - but it will still be delicious.  Is it authentic Mexican procedure? Probably not. I did make it once by boiling chunks of pork in lard. It was good, but takes a lot of lard and makes a mess.

Carnitas - From Homesick Texan cookbook

Ingredients:
3 pounds of pork butt, untrimmed with plenty of fat
1 cup of orange juice
3 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt
Optional - chopped garlic

1. Cut pork into strips (three inches by one inch), add to a large pot with the liquids and salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered on low for 2 hours. Do not touch the meat.

2. After two hours, turn heat up to medium high, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork fat has rendered (about 45 minutes). Stir a few times, to keep pork from sticking to bottom of pan.

3. When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready (there will be liquid fat in the pan). Serve either cubed or shredded (pork will be tender enough that just touching it will cause it to fall apart).


Goes very well with a green salsas with avocados

[dclord]

Carnitas is a dish with huge regional variations. I'm not a fan of the cooked in lard style. I would cook in slow cooker with garlic, oregano, cumin, and a can of coke, then shred and crisp a bit either under the broiler or in a cast iron skillet. Either before or after crisping add back some of the liquid I almost forgot to save from the slow cooker.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[bregent]

bregent,

Would country style ribs work with this? ..... Wouldn't have to cut them all up?

It should - as long as they have a decent amount of fat.

[Lothar1974]

Modified my first post with pics and recipe.

[dman77fb]

I have done this recipe a few times.  It turns out very well, and the pressure cooker helps to not take forever.

pressurecookingtoday.com/pork-carnitas-in-the-pressure-cooker/