Friday, May 1, 2015

Carnitas

Making this tonight: quite delicious!

Carnitas, my adaptation of several recipes

6 lb pork shoulder, boneless (I had a few bones I removed)
1 quart chicken stock
Orange juice
Zest of an orange
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 stick cinnamon
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Cut the pork into 1-2 inch cubes.
Put in a heavy pot, add the chicken stock, and enough orange juice
to cover the meat.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil,
stir and reduce the heat to simmer.  Simmer uncovered for 3 hours,
and add more salt to taste.  The pork should be very tender.

At this point, I still had a lot of liquid left, and the recipe I
was using suggested that it should mostly have reduced away by now.
So, instead of slavishly following the recipe, I heated the oven
to 450, removed the pork from the liquid, placing it in a roasting
dish, and turned the heat on the liquid up to high.
I put the pork into the oven, turning it occasionally, until it
crispened up nicely.  When the sauce was reduced to about a cup or
two of thick liquid, I added it to the pork, and stirred it to
distribute it well.

Served with small corn tortillas.


Yours, in anticipation,
N.

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