Pork Carnitas

PORK CARNITAS

My first recipe to share is Pork Carnitas.  This is a LARGE recipe, for family events - makes enough to feed 10-20 people, depending on how many side dishes you make.

1 pork shoulder
3 onions
10 cloves garlic
2 jalapenos, don't worry, it won't turn out too hot, but if that's what you'd like, throw in a few more.
3 oranges
2 1/2 T olive oil
1 1/2 T dried oregano
1 C (yes that was one cup) pork fat  - this can be trimmed from the pork shoulder, or ask your butcher for his fat scraps, if the butcher cuts his own meat, he'll have some.
1 t cumin
salt and pepper to taste.

First, juice the oranges and set both juice and rinds aside.  Next to them is the pork fat I got from my butcher, he gave me enough to do several of these recipes, so I'm keeping the rest in the freezer for now.  Don't be afraid of the fat here, it's not the enemy and trust me, it will make this stuff taste amazing!






Cook the half of the onions, garlic, jalapenos and seasonings in the pork fat until everything is browned.  Don't be afraid to get the bottom of your pan all sticky with brown stuff, it will be fine.  Remove the leftover fatty bits and put the rest through a blender or food processor and return it to your pan.  Add the orange juice and de-glaze the pan (that means "scrub" at the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits all dissolved) using the orange juice, see in the picture, it comes right up.




Cut up the pork shoulder - also called pork butt, into roughly 2" sized pieces.









Throw the whole thing in a Dutch Oven at 300 degrees, put the orange peels and extra onion on top.  You can get one of those nice enamel ones, but all I have is the kind you go camping with, and it works just fine, you just need to watch the feet around the oven racks.  Cover and bake at 300 for 4 hours.

Toward the end, remove the lid and let it bake for the last half hour without the lid to brown the meat and onions.  You can stir it to get the bottom bits browned too - or just leave it.  This recipe is very forgiving, you can almost forget about it and it will still turn out fine.

Traditionally this is served on tortillas, and I put some out for my guests, but this was also amazing as a salad topping (think Cafe Rio Pork Salad) with cheese, salsa, and other taco toppings.  This is great party food and fairly inexpensive!