Tuesday

Jason's Carnitas

How happy am I that ours is a life filled with friends who love food like we do????!!
Our dear friend Jason was in town last week and he happily shared his Carnitas recipe with me and now (lucky you!)... with you too!
I LOVE Carnitas!
The pork can usually be found at an inexpensive cost and it is tender, juicy and flavorful..
One of the things that makes me most happy is exchanging recipes  with my friends because then we have a lovely memory of them at one of the happiest times in our family life... when we sit down and enjoy a meal together!
I encourage you all to give this next one a try... I love your comments!

Photo by Jason Hagen




Ingredients
4-5-pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 5-inch chunks (I didn’t bother to trim the fat) 
3 Tbs Olive Oil
About 3 cups of water
1 Pepsi or Coke
1 cup fresh OJ
Juice from 1 lime
Rind from orange and lime
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves (not garlic ;-)
2 teaspoons various chili powders (Ancho, Anaheim, etc)
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 small onion sliced thin

Photo by Jason Hagen


Prepare
*Heat oven to 325 degrees
* Rub the pieces of pork shoulder all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to a day.
*Sear the meat in batches with your oil in a large pot or pan. Do not crowd the meat.
* Blot out most of the oil
*Sweat the onions for 30 seconds, salt your pork
*Add garlic and all other spices..Saute for 1 minute, take the pork out of pan and set aside
*Add liquids and deglaze your pan (like making gravy)
*Add meat back to your oven proof pan or pot
*Add enough water so that the meat is almost covered but not completely 
* Stick uncovered in the oven for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. (Until the meat is tender and falling apart) 
*After that you can turn to oven way down or stick on the stove top on low low heat, cover and let sit in the braising liquid for a few extra hours if you have the time.
*Increase oven to 450 or even to broil.
* Remove and shred the meat and (throwing any big pieces of fat back into the liquid) reduce the liquid until it is almost syrupy. Strain.  Check the meat for salt.
* Add meat to a roasting pan and spoon over some of the reduced liquid, which will contain a good amount of lard.
*If needed add salt to the meat. Stick meat in oven and watch closely. When the top layer of meat is getting crispy, you are done.

Serve with corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, lime and slices of avocado.

1 comment:

The Weekend Gourmet said...

I love carnitas, but haven't made them at home in a while. I need to save this recipe for next time pork roasts go on sale! We have the same blog background...great minds think alike :D!

Serving sizes and this sight.....

As many of you have come to realize, I am usually making huge amounts of food and alot of times for more than just my family. However, I would be horrified to think that someone who was living alone, or with only a couple people in their home would feel discouraged about this..
Simply use division for most of these recipes if they are too big. With the exception of baking, which requires a fair amount of science, these recipes can be adjusted and modified with ease! And if you feel stuck, either leave me a comment or email me and I will try to respond to you as soon as I can.
Thanks fellow foodies, hope you eat something yummy today and enjoy the fact that you didn't spend lots of money at a high end restaurant!

Enjoy! I love to hear from you all!

Rebecca Turrigiano

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