Carnitas 3 Ways Recipes

CARNITAS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Pat the pork butt dry with a paper towel. Use a large, sharp knife to trim away excess fat. Cut the pork butt into 1" thick slices. Then, cut each slice into 1" cubes.
• Transfer the pork to a 4-5 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven. Add all of the dry spices, and massage them onto the pork with your hands.
• Add the orange juice, lime juice, and a 1/2 cup water to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Add the bay leaves, cover, and transfer to the oven.
• Cook for 2 hours. Remove from the oven, and turn on the broiler on high. Have ready a rimmed sheet pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to the prepared sheet pan. Using the tines of a fork, gently press down on the pork to ever-so-slightly break it apart.
• Place the pork under the broiler, and watch closely so that it does not burn. As soon as the pork begins to tinge with dark brown hues and crisps up on the edges, remove it from the oven. Depending on your broiler, this could take anywhere from 1- 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Place the Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat and allow to come to a simmer. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the cooking liquid and allow to simmer until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Either add the pork back to the Dutch oven and stir or brush the sauce lightly over the carnitas. Serve with tortillas and your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!

SLOW COOKER PORK CARNITAS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Season pork shoulder with spice mixture, rubbing in thoroughly on all sides. Place garlic, onions, orange juice, lime juice and seasoned pork shoulder into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Remove pork shoulder from the slow cooker and shred the meat before returning to the pot with the juices; season with salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes. Preheat oven to broil. Place carnitas onto a baking sheet and broil until crisp and crusted, about 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately.

CARNITAS (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)

Steps:

• Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
• Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
• Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don't worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
• Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Note 2 for other cook methods)
• Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
• Optional: Skim off the fat from the juices remaining in the slow cooker and discard.
• If you have a lot more than 2 cups of juice, then reduce it down to about 2 cups. The liquid will be salty, it is the seasoning for the pork. Set liquid aside - don't bother straining onion etc, it's super soft.

PORK CARNITAS

Steps:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Season the pork shoulder with salt, then arrange the pork in the Dutch oven. Cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, lime juice, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. Pour in the chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and continue to simmer until pork is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Transfer the pork shoulder to a large baking sheet, reserving the cooking liquid. Drizzle with a small amount of the reserved cooking liquid and lightly season with salt.
• Bake the pork in the preheated oven until browned, about 30 minutes. Drizzle more of the cooking liquid on the meat every 10 minutes, and use two forks to shred the meat as it browns.

PORK CARNITAS (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)

Steps:

• Rinse and pat dry pork with a paper towel.
• In the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker, add pork, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, onion, garlic, lime juice, orange juice, coke, and bay leaves.
• Cover and cook on low heat setting for 8-10 hours, or high heat for 5-6 hours (until the meat falls apart).
• Remove pork and shred with two forks (DO NOT DISCARD THE LIQUID!)

CARNITAS 3 WAYS

Steps:

• Combine all seasoning in a bowl, mix well.
• Pleace meat in separate bowl and sprinkle seasoning and rub generously over meat - using all seasoning.
• Make Foil packet by laying out 2 long sheets of Heavy Duty Aluminium foil and make a cross.
• place meat on foil. Bring up sides of foil and fold making a packet.
• refrigerate for 6 hours (I marinade overnight, this gives it time to meld).
• SLOW COOKED: After marinating, place in a crockpot, cook 4 hours - the meat becomes very tender. Then transfer to a plate -- over Med-High Grill for 5 minutes to get a nice grill mark and crisp. Shred and eat in Tacos with Beans and Rice **** Our Favorite way to eat them*****.
• Or add 1 cup of water to the crockpot -- this makes the meat very tender and can be shredded for Burritos or tacos. (My Burrito Filling Recipe).
• GRILLING:.
• Preheat Grill- to 325 Place meat foil packet on grill and cover on indirect heat. Cook for 30 minutes then turn packet over and cook additional 30 minutes -- once more turn 30 minutes.
• Open foil packet carefully, With a fork remove from foil and place on the heat for 10 minutes and grill until grilled lines appear on outside.
• Serve in warm corn tortillas or with rice and beans. Or by itself.
• OVEN:.
• Preheat oven 325'.
• arrange meat in 9x13x2 baking pan into single layers.
• Cover pan tightly with foil.
• Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until very tender.
• Remove foil from pan and bake additional 15-20 minutes until meat is crisp on the outside.

VENISON CARNITAS

Steps:

• Spice Mix
• Mix together all ingredients for the spice blend. You won't need all of it for this recipe, so store what isn't used in an airtight container for future use or add to side dishes such as Spanish rice.
• Carnitas
• The night before using, or at least a couple of hours in advance, rub 1 to 2 tablespoons of the spice blend over the venison meat and allow it to marinate in the refrigerator.
• Before cooking, allow the meat to come to room temperature. Preheat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of fat and brown the venison on both sides. Remove the venison and place a crockpot.
• Add the red onion to the saute pan and cook until softened. Next, add the garlic and cook for an additional minute until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with lime juice and stock, scraping any bits at the bottom, then add the onions and liquids to the crockpot with the venison. Add an additional tablespoon of the spice blend to the crockpot.
• Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, or until the meat becomes extremely tender. Check on it periodically, if it appears to be getting dry or low on liquids, add a splash of stock.
• Use tongs to remove the meat from the crockpot and place it on a large sheet pan, reserving the liquids. Use two forks to shred the venison into little pieces and then broil in the oven at 500°F for 2 to 3 minutes. The little shredded bits should get crispy very fast. Don't overdo this or you will dry out the meat. Mix some of the reserved liquids into the shredded venison and serve as desired.
• Notes
• You can also use a pressure cooker for this recipe. The ingredients and method are the same as above, except instead of removing the ingredients and putting them in a crockpot, I kept it inside the pressure cooker and locked the lid after browning and adding liquids. It was tender in less than 2 hours.