Carnitas Tacos


 
Rich G

Rich G

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Last night, we had my sister over to celebrate her birthday. In honor of the Mexican victory over the French on May 5th, 1862, I decided on making up some carnitas and fresh flour tortillas for tacos. This cook is a redux of THIS ONE from 2021, and I employed a couple of the tweaks that @Michael Richards added during that summer. The carnitas cook is a medium length one at 7-8 hours, but is not terribly challenging, and turned out exceptionally well!

First step was cutting my 5lbs of boneless pork shoulder into chunks, which I seasoned with Lawry's Taco Seasoning, and popped onto a 230° grill. About 3 hours in,they were looking good!

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After four hours, the pork came off, got cut up into smaller pieces and went into a 6qt dutch oven along with three small oranges off our tree (juiced, and rinds), one lime (juiced, no rind), a white onion, 6 dried peppers (3 Ancho, 3 Guajillo), some garlic, and a couple of bay leaves. Topped up with water, covered, and back on the grill now at 350° (could always finish inside since it's covered.)

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After four hours, the pork came off again, and I drained it, reserving the juices (and fat.) The pork got shredded, then I let it rest while I got my tortillas made up....

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I'm still using THIS RECIPE for the tortillas, and I still use a press since I'm usually too lazy to get out the rolling pin and make a floury mess! :)

The last step with the pork is to reheat and fry it a bit to get those excellent crispy bits. I used my 12" CI skillet for this, and added the meat in batches to a HOT skillet. I added a bit of the braising liquid at first for flavor, then when that evaporated, I skimmed a bit of the fat to fry the pork a bit.

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After that, it was eating time!! We had some rice and beans to serve up on the side, some margaritas on the table, and a nice celebration with the five most important ladies in my life (wife, 3 daughters, and my sis.) Let me tell you, this did not suck in any way shape or form! :)

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Tim Campbell said:
Rich, that is over-the-top beyond my man. Awesome.
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Thanks, Tim!
Tim Campbell said:
Rich, can you provide more details on the rice and beans?
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The rice is just long-grain white (Mahatma brand.) I use a scant Tbsp of Knorr Tomato Boullion per 1/2 cup DRY rice which provides the color, and some nice flavor. Usually, I will also replace some or all of the water with chicken stock. Make the rice as you would normally make the rice.

The beans are another Instant Pot dish, since the IP just makes bean WAY faster. 1lb pinto beans, 1 white onion (quartered), a couple of garlic cloves and ~6 cups of water or chicken stock. I let it go for 50 minutes in the IP, then let the pressure release naturally. If you don't have an IP, then any method you use for take dried beans and get them to a tender, usable state will work. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Puree the liquid (up to 2 cups) with 1.5 cups of beans, add to a pot with the drained beans, and simmer for about 20 minutes (very low simmer) with some chili powder, taco seasoning, cumin, and oregano (all to taste, so no measurements, start small and adjust as needed.) Add salt to taste in the last five minutes. You can make these as soupy or as thick as you prefer your beans by just adjusting the liquid amounts. Last night's were THICK, as I shorted the amount of liquid by accident. :)

The bean recipe lends itself really well to modification, and I would be lying if I told you I make it exactly the same way every time. :) It's great with leftover smoked meat in it, too. :)

Let me know if you make it!

R
 
Rich G said:
Thanks, Tim!

The rice is just long-grain white (Mahatma brand.) I use a scant Tbsp of Knorr Tomato Boullion per 1/2 cup DRY rice which provides the color, and some nice flavor. Usually, I will also replace some or all of the water with chicken stock. Make the rice as you would normally make the rice.

The beans are another Instant Pot dish, since the IP just makes bean WAY faster. 1lb pinto beans, 1 white onion (quartered), a couple of garlic cloves and ~6 cups of water or chicken stock. I let it go for 50 minutes in the IP, then let the pressure release naturally. If you don't have an IP, then any method you use for take dried beans and get them to a tender, usable state will work. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Puree the liquid (up to 2 cups) with 1.5 cups of beans, add to a pot with the drained beans, and simmer for about 20 minutes (very low simmer) with some chili powder, taco seasoning, cumin, and oregano (all to taste, so no measurements, start small and adjust as needed.) Add salt to taste in the last five minutes. You can make these as soupy or as thick as you prefer your beans by just adjusting the liquid amounts. Last night's were THICK, as I shorted the amount of liquid by accident. :)

The bean recipe lends itself really well to modification, and I would be lying if I told you I make it exactly the same way every time. :) It's great with leftover smoked meat in it, too. :)

Let me know if you make it!

R
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This is incredibly helpful. Thank you, Rich.
 
Rich,
Amazing as always Rich, I love this recipe. May I ask a question? With you cutting the chucks of pork into smaller pieces after the smok session of the cook, at the end of the cook how do you stain the liquid, all the aromatics, and the meat? With leaving the pork in big pieces I just pull them first, but with the smaller pieces do you have any issues separating it at the end? This may be a complete non-issue that I am raising here, I like the idea to cut them into smaller pieces like you next time, but I want to make sure I am not missing anything.
Thanks,
Michael
 
Michael Richards said:
Rich,
Amazing as always Rich, I love this recipe. May I ask a question? With you cutting the chucks of pork into smaller pieces after the smok session of the cook, at the end of the cook how do you stain the liquid, all the aromatics, and the meat? With leaving the pork in big pieces I just pull them first, but with the smaller pieces do you have any issues separating it at the end? This may be a complete non-issue that I am raising here, I like the idea to cut them into smaller pieces like you next time, but I want to make sure I am not missing anything.
Thanks,
Michael
Click to expand...
Thanks, Michael.

Separating the pork from the other solids after straining wasn't too big of a deal. I fished most of the pork out of the pot, then drained in my large colander (saving juices/fat, of course!) Then I just pick out the remaining piece from the onion, orange and pepper pieces. Larger pieces would definitely be easier, but I guess my thinking on the smaller pieces was that there would be a greater degree of flavor impact from the braising liquid. I could be wrong, of course, but this works for me, so I'll keep at it. :)

R
 
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