Real carnitas isn’t terribly difficult, I suspect. I’ve never actually made it, but it involves large sections of pig that braises in its own fat, much like duck confit. The pork is spiced with fruit juice and spices, and the result is a rich, sinful pulled pork that is worthy of canonization in the Church of the Sacred Meatstuffs.
This version is quick and easy, foregoing the time-consumption normally associated with authentic carnitas. In fact, this is simply braised pork, not worthy of carnitas status, thus I call it “ghetto” lest it suffer from delusions of grandeur.
Ghetto Carnitas
- 2 pounds of pork shoulder, cut into two-inch chunks
- Orange juice
- Water
- Broth (chicken, beef, unicorn – whatever you’ve got)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 1 tablespoon chile de arbol powder
- 1 tablespoon some other chili powder (New Mexico, etc. – the idea here is to add 3 tablespoons of various chili powders)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, pushed through a press or minced very fine
- Salt to taste
Preheat over to 275 degrees.
Put pork in a dutch oven – I’ve found my cast iron Lodge works extremely well. Cover with equal parts of each liquid component to cover the pork by just over a half inch. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir and bring to a low simmer, cover, and transfer to oven. Braise 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring lightly every 45 minutes or so.
Let cool, then transfer to a platter with a slotted spoon. Press pork gently with the tines of a back of a fork to “shred” — the meat should naturally start to fall apart.
Heat up corn tortillas on a griddle, double them up and scoop the braised pork on top. Top with chopped onions, cilantro, and your favorite homemade or jarred Mexican table hot sauce.
You can actually make an easier and quicker version that’s not as good as true Michoacan style carnitas that are boiled in their own fat ala confit, but work pretty well and is much closer than what you made.
Take a relatively fatty cut of pork, such as shoulder, and cut it into about 1 inch cubes. Cover the bottom of a pot with the pieces with just a little space between them. Just cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer. The water will boil off leaving the rendered fat, then the pieces will fry in the fat and become crispy.
However, you can just simmer until fork tender, then remove whatever water is there and fry in lard until crisp. The whole process is usually about an hour.
Personally, if I was going to take the time you’re taking, I would braise the meat in lard in the oven until tender and then pan fry until crisp.
See here for a big discussion including some photos and recipes by me and arguments over this whole issue:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=10592&hl=carnitas
I guess “quick” is a misnomer of sorts, in that I’m saying you’re not really do much in way of prep – just throwing together and bunch of stuff and cooking in one step by putting it on/in a heat source and forgetting about it.
I’m not one for whipping anything up on a weeknight, so I’m cool with even doing this in a crock pot all day. Ease is the operative word.
Fry/braise in lard? You’re the mack – I dunno if my wife would even let me bring in a box of sno cap into our kitchen, and I’m not sure if I’d have the forthrightness to scoop that stuff up with my weak disposition.
That sounds more like a recipe for Cochinita Pibil, without the achiote.
It was my understanding that pibil requires wrapping meat in banana leaves.
GC, that freaking looks tasty and awesome right now. Luckily i have a dutch oven so i can try this out. my lady would love this. i wonder if you can do this foil-wrapped style too.
The long slow method has a couple of benefits, from rendering all of the fat to making your house smell like heaven. I often just dump all of the carnitas ingredients into the crock pot on the way out the door in the AM. I like to fry the shredded meat in it’s own juices a bit, get them a bit crispy ’round the edges. Cochinita Pibil has lots of vinegar, lemon juice, and achiote – it’s a completely different critter.
Well, whatever it is, it looks really good!
If it ain’t crispy, it ain’t carnitas, in my book. That’s all. Even if you were to finish them in oil….
The most essential part of cochinita pibil is that it’s slow roasted and rubbed with a recado, or a spice mixture usually including achiote. In that sense, I have to agree that the results are closer to cochinita pibil than carnitas. Carnitas aren’t usually so adulterated with spices. They’re usually just salted and maybe have a little citrus. If you were take your stuff and top it with pickled onions, it’d be closer in flavor to cochinita pibil, imo. But really, it’d be neither. I’m not sure a Mexican in Mexico would call it that if they were to eat it.
Of course, all this is beside the fact of whether it’s good or not.
Thank you posting the recipe. I highly recommend a simple homemade pico de gallo to accompany carnitas rather than a cooked or canned salsa. Fresh tomatoes, garlic, bit of onion, jalapeno, cilantro, oregano, black pepper, kosher salt and lots of lime juice. Doesn’t take very long to chop and mix while the carnitas are cooking.