Crockpot Carnitas
Apr. 26th, 2013 06:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendelah1 in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
omnomnomYou all know how much I love my slow cookers. What you may not know is how much I love Mexican food. Last week, I bought a pork shoulder with the intention of making carnitas, only to find I'd lost the recipe I was planning to use. So I found another one online. Thank goodness for the internet.
This recipe calls for about half the amount of pork I had purchased, so I had to improvise. It still turned out great. I'd forgotten to buy avocados and it was too late to run out for them by the time I remembered, so we ate the meat right out of the cooker with flour tortillas and bottled salsa and hot sauce. Yum. The second night, I took out about half of the left-over shredded meat, fried it up in a huge skillet, served it on corn tortillas with the usual fixings. I think I am going to freeze the rest for a day when I don't feel up to much cooking.
The original recipe is by Melissa d'Arabian of the Food Network. Pork Carnitas
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (or 2 1/2 pounds bone-in)[I used four pounds of organic, cage-less, certified humane, expensive-as-all-get-out pork from Whole Paycheck. Since I'm getting three meals out of the cut, I consider it more than worth it.]
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano [4 tsp. for my purposes]
1 teaspoon ground cumin [I think I used more like 3 tsp]
1 tablespoon olive oil [2 T.]
1 onion, coarsely chopped [I could have used two but my husband doesn't tolerate onion well so I left it at one.]
4 cloves garlic, minced [I think I used six but eight might have been better]
1 jalapeno, seeded and ribs removed, chopped [I only used one but again, two might have been even better to balance out all of that oregano]
1 orange, cut in half [I used the juice of two oranges but only threw in two orange halves]
3 tablespoons vegetable oil [I think I used a tablespoon of olive oil in a well-seasoned black skillet to fry the meat the second day.]
Directions
Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Salt and pepper liberally. Mix the oregano and the cumin with olive oil and rub all over pork. Place the pork in a slow cooker and top with the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Squeeze over the juice of the orange and add the two halves. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high 4 hours. Since I had a four pound pork shoulder, I decided to cook it on high for six hours but start checking it at four. I was right. Six hours on high was just right with my slow cooker. It smelled amazing while it was cooking, too.
Once the meat is tender, remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly before pulling apart with a fork. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crusty on one side. Serve with tortillas, salsa, pico de gallo, queso fresco, limes, cilantro, onions, avocados (or guacamole), rice, and beans. I think this recipe will easily serve 8, doubled at least 16. Party on!
This recipe calls for about half the amount of pork I had purchased, so I had to improvise. It still turned out great. I'd forgotten to buy avocados and it was too late to run out for them by the time I remembered, so we ate the meat right out of the cooker with flour tortillas and bottled salsa and hot sauce. Yum. The second night, I took out about half of the left-over shredded meat, fried it up in a huge skillet, served it on corn tortillas with the usual fixings. I think I am going to freeze the rest for a day when I don't feel up to much cooking.
The original recipe is by Melissa d'Arabian of the Food Network. Pork Carnitas
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (or 2 1/2 pounds bone-in)[I used four pounds of organic, cage-less, certified humane, expensive-as-all-get-out pork from Whole Paycheck. Since I'm getting three meals out of the cut, I consider it more than worth it.]
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano [4 tsp. for my purposes]
1 teaspoon ground cumin [I think I used more like 3 tsp]
1 tablespoon olive oil [2 T.]
1 onion, coarsely chopped [I could have used two but my husband doesn't tolerate onion well so I left it at one.]
4 cloves garlic, minced [I think I used six but eight might have been better]
1 jalapeno, seeded and ribs removed, chopped [I only used one but again, two might have been even better to balance out all of that oregano]
1 orange, cut in half [I used the juice of two oranges but only threw in two orange halves]
3 tablespoons vegetable oil [I think I used a tablespoon of olive oil in a well-seasoned black skillet to fry the meat the second day.]
Directions
Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Salt and pepper liberally. Mix the oregano and the cumin with olive oil and rub all over pork. Place the pork in a slow cooker and top with the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Squeeze over the juice of the orange and add the two halves. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high 4 hours. Since I had a four pound pork shoulder, I decided to cook it on high for six hours but start checking it at four. I was right. Six hours on high was just right with my slow cooker. It smelled amazing while it was cooking, too.
Once the meat is tender, remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly before pulling apart with a fork. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crusty on one side. Serve with tortillas, salsa, pico de gallo, queso fresco, limes, cilantro, onions, avocados (or guacamole), rice, and beans. I think this recipe will easily serve 8, doubled at least 16. Party on!