There are many carnitas approaches out there, do any of you guys have one that you think is the best? I got a chunk of pork shoulder on sale and I want to do carnitas!!
Here is how I remember it from El Paso:
Get a really big cast iron kettle hanging on a tripod and start a wood fire under it.....scrap lumber from construction sites, fire wood etc. Start with about 20#'s pork fat and render out the lard and then scoop out the chicharones. Cool on a metal wire screen, from one of your windows, supported by 4 red bricks on the picknick table. Eat with Chulola or Tabasco while drinking Modelo Especial or your favorite Mexican beer, the Patron come later. Next throw in about 15#'s diced pork (1-2" cubes) that have been seasoned with Sazon and resting in the fridge since day before yesterday. Let sizzle in the rendered lard a little while, add about 1 beer or so, stirring constantly with the oar from you car top fishing boat. Add, 5#'s orange, lemon and lime slices, 1 gallon milk, one 750ml bottle cheap tequilla and the final secret ingredient is the ash from all the Marlboro smoking hermanos. Cook until crispy outside and white, not pink, in the middle. When you are near the end of cooking the meat, 2-3 minute or another beer, add a couple of pounds of whole jalapenos stem and all. Scoop out and drain on the same screen that had the chicharones. Serve with warm corn tortillas by the kilo, guacamole, pico de gallo, the fried whole jalapenos y Patron....SALUD!!!
Some of the best friendship and outdoor eats I ever remember having!!!!
Here is how I remember it from El Paso:
Get a really big cast iron kettle hanging on a tripod and start a wood fire under it.....scrap lumber from construction sites, fire wood etc. Start with about 20#'s pork fat and render out the lard and then scoop out the chicharones. Cool on a metal wire screen, from one of your windows, supported by 4 red bricks on the picknick table. Eat with Chulola or Tabasco while drinking Modelo Especial or your favorite Mexican beer, the Patron come later. Next throw in about 15#'s diced pork (1-2" cubes) that have been seasoned with Sazon and resting in the fridge since day before yesterday. Let sizzle in the rendered lard a little while, add about 1 beer or so, stirring constantly with the oar from you car top fishing boat. Add, 5#'s orange, lemon and lime slices, 1 gallon milk, one 750ml bottle cheap tequilla and the final secret ingredient is the ash from all the Marlboro smoking hermanos. Cook until crispy outside and white, not pink, in the middle. When you are near the end of cooking the meat, 2-3 minute or another beer, add a couple of pounds of whole jalapenos stem and all. Scoop out and drain on the same screen that had the chicharones. Serve with warm corn tortillas by the kilo, guacamole, pico de gallo, the fried whole jalapenos y Patron....SALUD!!!
Some of the best friendship and outdoor eats I ever remember having!!!!
Would it be accurate to consider carnitas to be pork confit?
One way that seemed to make sense to me was to but the pork in a pot with water and simmer it for 4 hours or so until the water was gone, then browning in the rendered fat.
Would it be accurate to consider carnitas to be pork confit?
What if you don't have a fishing boat?
OK, after a fair bit of research I cooked up some pork yesterday. After cutting the butt into chunks I sprinkled on some of my dry rub and a bit of extra salt, then put it into a 6 qt. stock pot.
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I juiced an orange, a lemon, and a lime, added 1/2 a sweet onion, 4 sliced cloves of garlic and 3 fresh bay leaves. These went into the pot with enough water to just cover.
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I cooked it until the liquid evaporated and let it brown in the rendered fat.
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I fried some corn tortillas and made tacos with guac, cheddar and napa slaw.
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It worked out pretty well!
The chipotle that I used was from some red jalapeño that I smoked in the BGE!
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