Pork Carnitas

I was totally planning to make this post about the vegetable sandwich I mentioned the other day, but then I came across this post that I'd started a few weeks ago with my recipe for pork carnitas. This was the first time I attempted to make carnitas, and I am hooked! They were super simple to put together (you can probably throw all of the ingredients into a slow-cooker and let it do all the work!) and the leftovers I froze fed our family FOUR meals! I served it with roasted poblanos topped with melted chihuahua cheese and diced peppers and onions, homemade guacamole as well as pickled onions. The yummy carnitas were served on flatbread (it's actually a naan recipe, but who's counting, ha!). 

Here we go!

Ingredients: 

1 3 1/2 to 4 pound pork shoulder, cut into 2-3 inch pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 red onion, roughly chopped

1/2 tablespoon ancho chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

juice of one lime

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup orange juice

2 bay leaves

pepper to taste

The assembly is crazy complicated.

 The Catfish pretty much did it all herself...

Just place all of the ingredients into a stock pot or Dutch oven (or crock-pot, if you're so inclined).

Bring it up to a rolling boil then simmer, uncovered for five minutes.

Cover and place the pot into the oven, cooking at 300 degrees for roughly two hours (until the meat shreds easily). 

Remove from heat and allow to cool enough to remove the meat without burning yourself the shred the meat with two forks. 

Strain the liquid through a sieve then return the liquid back to the pot and bring it to a boil then simmer it until it reduces by half.

Place the shredded meat onto a lined pan then broil it for up to five minutes until the edges get crispy. Add the meat back to the broth and serve! 

I will post my pickled onion recipe soon. I am obsessed and make these all of the time!

For the flatbread/naan recipe, click here!