Carnitas on the WSM


 
T

Tim S

New member
Has anyone tried making carnitas on the WSM. I typically braise the shoulder, pull it and then finish in the oven, but I wonder if replacing the braise with smoking would add another flavor dimension.

Would probably rub with a combo of chili powders, salt and cumin and leave out any sugar. Any thoughts.
 
It sure would.

You could smoke it, pull it, then fry it or oven-finish it. For a high-heat oven-finish I'd probably toss the meat with a little liquid, more of the same sugarless rub you mentioned, but now I'd add touch of sugar with it to help caramelize the meat.
 
I suppose you can... though smoking it instead of slow boiling it in lard would kind of change it from carnitas to, well, smoked pork shoulder. Not that it wouldn't be absolutely delicious (it definitely would be) it just wouldn't be carnitas in my opinion, which to me has a very distinct cooking process that lends its unique flavor and texture.

But who cares about a name? Make it and call it carnitas or yum yum tacos or the best smoked mexican taco on earth or something like that.

By the way... while we are on the topic of carnitas... the trimmings you get from your ribs when you cut them to st louis style are great for making carnitas. I save a bunch up, then when I'm in the mood for carnitas, I thaw them out and have a huge batch of it. Now I never buy meat for carnitas - it's always sitting in my freezer.
 
thinking about the last part of your request... the spices...

I agree that low-sugar is good. However, you may want to find a way to work orange or orange rind into the mix, since orange is usually thrown in the pot of boiling lard when carnitas is made, which gives a very slight flavor and adds color to it. Maybe if you finish in the oven, you can throw in some orange rind or orange juice there. Orange and chiles love eachother.
 
Kevin,

For finishing in the oven, I typically toss the pulled meat with some cream, beer and chopped chilies. The cream really helps with giving it a nice crust and the beer keeps the meat moist.

Not necessarily super authentic but it does taste really good especially with some fresh corn tortillas.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">some cream, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Superb idea! I've done them with beer and calamondin zest and chilies (yes, chile-orange, a must for me too), often with a pinch of Turbinado here and there, but I really like the cream idea. It has a natural sweetness and gets that great rich, nutty flavor when it reduces. Excellent!
 
Plain old everyday cream, but a word of caution the cream makes the pan a PITA to clean up afterwards.
 
Ok i don't get out much so please pardon me but never heard of these till this thread
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An internet search for a recipe turns up nothing about cooking in lard just water or chicken broth. So i ask if you would be so kind as to post a recipe please.
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Thanks Bryan
 
Bryan--

There are a few ways to do them. Meat (pork or beef) is usually braised in a mix of liquids/spices/aromatics till tender. Then the meat is chopped, cut into cubes, or pulled small. It's then fried in lard to be crisp on the outside and succulent inside or, alternatively, put back in a high-heat oven to crisp/caramelize. Often, with an oven finish, liquids alone or mixed with lard are used to facilitate browning. The liquid cooks away and the lard adds its flavor and browning capability.
 
I can't imagine carnitas on the WSM. I'll be the first to say that pretty much ANY pork on the WSM is going to be tasty, I'm just not sure it would be carnitas. This is one of those things where I guess I'm lucky that Chicago has so many good Mexican purveyors of carnitas that I won't expend the effort/time to make them myself vs. just buying them. Here's a link to a thread where the first post includes a great picture of one of our local carnitas outlets preparing them (I don't think the 5 foot copper carnitas pan is required for home use
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Carnitas being prepared
 
Karl,

Where is that picture taken. I am going to be in Chicago this weekend and would definitely like to see something like that firsthand.

Thanks.

Tim
 
Well, Kevin beat me to the punch on the address for Carnitas Don Pedro. Tim - I'd suggest that Carnitas Uruapan may offer even better carnitas. An excellent discussion contrasting Carnitas Uruapan and Carnitas Paisa can be found here.

One advantage to Uruapan is that it is located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and is therefore surrounded by a lot of other, interesting, taquerias and stores. 2 blocks east of Uruapan is BomBon Bakery - it's really difficult to walk in there and not buy at least one thing because everything is so pretty (and tasty). Carnitas at Uruapan, dessert at BomBon.

Carnitas Uruapan
1725 W. 18th St
Chicago
312-266-2654

BomBon Bakery
1508 W. 18th St
Chicago
312-733-7788

Nuevo Leon
1515 W 18th St
Chicago
312-421-1517

Edit: I added Nuevo Leon as it's an excellent Mexican restaurant in the same area. Open early and popular for breakfast as well as lunch/dinner. No alcohol but you will be cheerfully greeted if you choose to bring in your own beer.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan S:
Ok i don't get out much so please pardon me but never heard of these till this thread
icon_rolleyes.gif
An internet search for a recipe turns up nothing about cooking in lard just water or chicken broth. So i ask if you would be so kind as to post a recipe please.
icon_smile.gif
Thanks Bryan </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

While it is true that people can cook carnitas in many ways... any good, self-respecting mexican cook would only cook it in lard. Think... cooking pulled pork in the oven. Still may be pulled pork, but just ain't the same thing. The part of mexico that is super famous for its carnitas is michoacan. And they are lard kings. Karl's picture is great... I guarantee that ain't water it is being cooked it.

I think the reason a lot of cookbooks have recipes for braising or cooking in water is that slow boiling in lard just doesn't sound like a recipe for the masses. So the food networks of the world dumb it down...
 
I ate and learned to cook carnitas in Calif. But the best carnitas I've had were in Michoacan. There, hunks of pork were browned a little in lard, then water, a squeeze of o.j., orange rind, garlic, onion, cinnamon, bay leaves, and oregano were added. When the pork was cooked it was broken up a bit more, the other soilds were removed and the heat was raised so that the liquids would evaporate and the pork would crisp in the remaining fat. It was very, very, good. A few days later I had carnitas again in San Luis Potosi, though this time white wine replaced the o.j. Wonderful.

On edit: I had carnitas cooked in lard only in Calif and in Mexico. But those two times opened another door for me. I adapted my approach accordingly--they were too good. After a while I added an oven-finish option that I'd read in many recipes; convenient for the times you can't attend the pot on the stove, but I much prefer the stovetop start to finish.
 
Definitely, gotta be cooked in lard. You can cook it however you want and call it carnitas, I suppose, but it's a little like parboiling ribs and calling it BBQ, IMO. I'm reminded of a terrific quote from the great Southern Foodways Oral History articles on TN BBQ. In closing an interview with Sam Donald (born 1920), owner of Sam's BBQ in Humboldt TN, he was questioned if he had anything to add:

We’ve interviewed a few people in that Henderson area. Well, do y’all have anything else to say about barbeque?

MD: No, I sure don’t. Except, unless it’s cooked by wood, it’s not good barbeque.

I think that kind of sums up how I feel about carnitas. Unless it's cooked in lard, it's not good carnitas.
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I've linked to these articles before but I'm going to link again because they are that good.

BBQ Oral History Project
 
Those are such great articles. I've sent that link to a dozen people since you first posted it.
 
So...I wanted some thought on smoked carnitas and began my search here on the TVWBB. And, I found this thread first.

For those who may not have tried it, I made burritos last evening. For the meat, I pulled a previously smoked pound of of my last butt from the freezer. After it had thawed, I chopped it a bit finer, heated some EVOO in the skillet and fried the bits until a nice crisp developed on most pieces. WOW!.

And so, to the TVWBB... The carnitas I have always had are usually 1"-2" pieces of pork that have most likely been prepared in a traditional carnitas method (see above).

MY QUESTION... to smoke a pork butt in the WSM but take it out shortly before 'pull-apart, meltiness' is attained, does anyone have an ideas as to what temperature should be aimed at? Enough firmness should remain to allow for piecing in to bite-size chunks which would then be baked, broiled or fried to attain the desired carmelized finish.

I am thinking, that somewhere around 170°-175°. Just looking for some more experienced input.
 
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