Carnitas!

[Bob_Wood]

Okay, folks. Here you go. This is a picture of the carnitas simmering. It’s about 2 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder (Boston butt) cut into large chunks and simmering in water to which I’ve added two limes, half an orange, half an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, cumin seed, coriander seed, some fresh cilantro and some salt and pepper. The true Mexican way to do this is to simmer the pork in lard, not water but . . . well . . . I love lard but it just seems so excessive.
Once the pork is tender, remove it from the water and put it in a shallow pan and roast it at 325 degrees, uncovered, until it’s browned and very tender. It helps if you cool the cooking liquid and scrape off the accumulated lard to spread over the pork. Alternately, you can add some of your own, but it’s best to get it from someplace like a Mexican market where they have the bulk stuff they’ve rendered themselves. It’s not hydrogenated, but no worries. If you don’t have access to bulk lard just use the packaged stuff from Swift, Armour or Morrell.
Once your pork is done, just shred it and serve on fresh corn tortillas with lime wedges, chopped white onion, cilantro and your favorite salsa. I had an avocado, so I added a slice or two.
I made a simple salsa verde out of four tomatillos, one serrano chile, some onion, garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro. Just remove the husks from the tomatillos and the stem from the serrano and chop everything up. Simmer the whole thing with a little water (check evaporation from time to time) until everything is tender, then puree in a blender or food processor.

¡Muy Sabroso!

[Brett_Johnson]

Looks awesome; I love carnitas!! Ultimate comfort food…

My recipe is pretty much the same as yours except I use a slow cooker, a lot more sliced oranges and sometimes a can of coke (a la a killer taco shop in San Diego).

[Jorge_Henriquez]

órale wey! Se ve buenisimo Bob. (Bien hecho!)

[M_Dildine]

@Jorge Henriquez

órale wey! Se ve buenisimo Bob. (Bien hecho!)

+1 I’m going to attempt this soon!

[Jorge_Henriquez]

Just noticed something…why the double tortilla?

[Bob_Wood]

@Jorge Henriquez

Just noticed something…why the double tortilla?

All the taco trucks serve their tacos that way around here, and I find it helps keep the taco together. One tortilla tends to disintegrate.

[Bob_Wood]

@Serge Birbrair

I like the way it looks, will show it to my Latino!

Where did you buy him, Serge?

[Michael_Bowden]

Looks tasty…good choice on the water (vs. the lard)…no reason to suffer if you dont have to.

[Veronica_Castro]

Looks great! Well done!

[Jorge_Henriquez]

@Bob Wood

@Serge Birbrair

I like the way it looks, will show it to my Latino!

Where did you buy him, Serge?

Just a guess:

[jimmie_wellman]

Looks great! I love carnitas, but haven’t had any to compare with the ones I used to get from Armando’s in Fillmore, CA (and they did braise them in lard). Maybe I should just make some myself.

I’ve seen recipes that call for a little milk, but don’t know what that adds.

The beans look good, too.

[Bob_Wood]

@jimmie wellman

I’ve seen recipes that call for a little milk, but don’t know what that adds.

I’ve seen the same thing, Jimmie. Coca Cola, too. If I’d had any Coke I would have added it, but I only had Diet Coke.

@jimmie wellman

The beans look good, too.

They’re the easiest part, and no . . . I didn’t open a can.

[Bob_Wood]

@Serge Birbrair

Are you making fun of my English!?

No, I’m making fun of your Spanish.

[Jorge_Henriquez]

@Serge Birbrair

@Bob Wood

@Serge Birbrair

Are you making fun of my English!?

No, I’m making fun of your Spanish.

OK, that is it, you pushed me!
We are going to Madrid and Barcelona on March 26th.

So far I learned only one Spanish sentence:

Con pasiencia y saliba el elephante selemetio en culo a la ormiga!

Con paciencia y saliva el elefante se lo metió en culo a la hormiga!

FIXED! Freaking funny saying. Oh those Castellanos.

[LMD_Ermitano]

@Jorge Henriquez

Con paciencia y saliva el elefante se lo metió en culo a la hormiga!

FIXED! Freaking funny saying. Oh those Castellanos.

Thanks for fixing it, Jorge. For a second there, I thought my Spanish had disappeared. I couldn’t tell what “saliba” and “selemetio” were.

[Paul_L_i_n]

One of the advantages of living in the OC is that one does not need to go far to get amazing carnitas, much better than I could ever make at home.

[Linda_Baehr]

One lady who owned a Mex restaurant in Fresno told me that when Carnitas are done at home she recommends using OJ, milk, and Coke.
I can’t remember Rick Bayless’s recipe, but I remember he did use a lot of OJ and maybe one of those other three components.

[Bill_Ackerman]

Last batch I did, instead of coke and orange juice, I used Hansen’s Mandarin soda. I liked it as much if not better.

[Jason_Hagen]

Thanks Bob. Looks great. About how long did you let it simmer?

@Paul L i n

One of the advantages of living in the OC is that one does not need to go far to get amazing carnitas, much better than I could ever make at home.

We are carnitas addicts and you can get A+ versions every 100 yards, but it is an easy cheap thing to make. And can be quite competitive with local restaurants and trucks IMO. Although stuff not simmered in fresh lard with never compete with the stuff that does.

J

[Chris_Freemott]

Just happened to see Bayless’s show on WTTW here in Chicago and he did carnitas.

Now, his ‘easy’ version is nothing more than salt, water and time.

His Frontera Grill/Toplobompo version is done sous vide for 50 hours in lard.

The sous vide seems brilliant to me as I don’t see you needing nearly as much fat to cook the pork.

But, alas, he did not indicate any of his spices though it certainly appears during the show it’s nothing more than salt - which I don’t believe.

Looks good woody.