Pork Carnitas
"Slow cooked pork carnitas that are loosely based on the traditional method. This recipe makes large quantities, and for a small family can easily provide 3-4 meals.
This recipe calls for a lot of fat to be added. If it is not added your carnitas will be very dry."
photo by Lab Chef
- Ready In:
- 22hrs
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
1/4 cup
- Serves:
- 18-20
ingredients
- 7 lbs pork shoulder
- 1⁄2 cup shortening
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1⁄2 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1⁄2 tablespoon black pepper
directions
- PART 1: Place shortening in pan and heat over medium-low heat until the shortening liquefies.
- Remove from the heat and wait 5 minutes, then add the spices (Chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let cool until the mixture becomes solid again. **Do not refrigerate, the shortening will become too hard to work with later.**.
- Once the mixture is cool and solid, lay out a very large piece of aluminium foil. (enough to wrap around the shoulder at least once). Place the pork shoulder on the foil and rub all the shortening on to the piece of meat. Wrap the foil around the meat tight and then turn over and repeat the wrap with another piece of aluminum foil. Place in baking dish.
- Place in refrigerator overnight.
- Part 2: Place the baking dish in the oven with the tightly wrapped meat and turn oven on to 250 degrees F.
- Cook at this temperature for 10-12 hours (aprox 1.5 hours per lb of meat cooked). Internal temperature should be 200 F when finished.
- Remove from oven and let sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Cut open the foil and remove the pork. There will be a lot of liquid, **DO NOT DISCARD**.
- On a cutting board or in the baking dish with all the liquid (foil discarded). Take two forks and shred the meat, it should be very easy because the meat should already be falling apart. Place the meat back into the liquid and mix until all the liquid is absorbed into the meat. This may take a while 30-60 minutes.
- Once the meat and liquid are together and the meat is mostly cooled, it can be bagged and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Bag according to meal size.
- Part 3: Thaw meat from the freezer or remove from the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 475-500°F.
- Place the pork into a large cast iron skillet and place into the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. It should be dark and crispy on the outsides, and smell outstanding.
- Serve on corn or flour tortillas, with shredded lettuce (cabbage is traditional), cheese, tomatoes.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Lab Chef
United States
As my moniker might display, I am a chef and I work in a laboratory. I have working a healthcare lab for the past 18 years. With the exception of the two years that took a break and went culinary school. Let me tell you, working with food is fun, but it really does not pay the bills. So I went back into healthcare. Now I just cook for my friends and family.
One thing that I learned in culinary school is once you have the techniques of cooking, you can cook just about anything. I am not saying go out and spend tens of thousands of dollars on culinary school. But try to learn as much about cooking techniques as you can, take a class at your local continuing education location, read a lot, there are many great teaching cooking shows (Good Eats), and of course there is always YouTube. But most of all, cook what you love, and have fun. Do not let cooking be a "I have 30 minutes to make a meal before I have to do X." Cook on your days off or weekends, play some music, have some wine, but have fun. If it does not turn out, do not get mad, but try to figure out why it did not turn out. It usually either a bad recipe, or bad technique.
