Carnitas

So, I had never had Carnitas. If you had given me the word and asked me what it was I would have come up with 'bits of meat' because of the 'carne' root. Traditionally it is little bits of meat, of pork specifically, cooked for hours in huge iron pot. I wondered upon reading about it, the origins of this cooking method. Carnitas could be made with any kid of meat, but is best suited to fatty meats (like certain cuts of pork). However, North America did not have any native swine, they were brought with the conquistadors, and the closest native porcine relative is the quite cute Peccary. Cooking any kind of meat for hours in a large pot is going to make it quite tender, but the delicious (fatty) richness of pork gives it something special. While 500 years is plenty to develop a pork based cuisine, I will naively hypothesize that the cooking methodology for Carnitas is far older than pork, and pork is merely the current preferred meat source. I could see trying the recipe with other kinds of meat, though I don't know of a vegetable that would work. For a vegetarian version, the best choice would probably be thinly sliced seitan, appropriately spiced.

We came upon the recipe in a cook book that Dennis had purchased called The Complete Meat Cookbook. I gave him a hard time when he bought it, thinking, 'do we really need any more cookbooks'? But he had a gift card, and ignored my picking, and I have been most grateful he did. We have enjoyed many lovely meals out of this cookbook, though we have learned that it over estimates portion sizes by quite a lot. For example, the Afganhi Lamb Pasta we made to serve six was delicious but also good for at least 12 meals... This cookbook has been a great addition to our collection, and the Carnitas, like every other recipe we have tried from it, turned out superb.

We had thawed out a pork roast (boston butt roast) for Friday night, and were not in the mood for our traditional BBQ pork in the crock pot, which is our usual use of this cut of meat. We scrounged around looking for recipes on what to do with our roast until finally narrowing it down to two. A marinade for pork that is supposed to make it taste like wild boar (yum!) or Carnitas. Now the marinade took at least 24 hours, and we did not have all the ingredients, so we decided that Carnitas were the way to go.

I have no Mexican or latin heritage and, while I love Mexican food, Carnitas is not something I had come across. Our cookbook told us that is was traditionally pork, cooked for a really long time in lard, and then heaped on corn tortilla with salsa and hot sauce. With the lard, its not the healthiest meal you can imagine; not to mention, lard is not something I generally keep in my kitchen. Luckily, our recipe substituted water and milk for lard and used a long braising process to develop the flavors and tenderize the meat.

Recipe:

1 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1 t dried oregano or 2 t fresh chopped
1t salt
1 t fresh ground black pepper

Mix above ingredients and rub onto
1 4 to 6 pound pork shoulder or Boston Butt roast, cut into 3 inch chunks (do not trim too much fat off, you will drain later)

Heat 1 T oil in a heavy pot or dutch oven over high heat and brown the meat for 7 to 10 mins.

Add, 2 cups chopped onions
6 whole garlic cloves

Cook for 5 minutes more until the onions begin to soften

Add 2 cups of water and 2 bay leaves, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Note do not start cooking this when you are too hungry! We were starving, and after the 1 1/2 hour simmer, we were only halfway there...

Pour off broth and reserve. The recipe mentions that this reserved broth would make a great soup base, and I have mine saved in my freezer for just such an occasion.

After pouring off the broth add 1 quart (4 cups) of milk. The recipie says to 'simmer until the milk has curdled and caramelized and all the liquid has evaporated'. The milk is supposed to leave a golden brown coating on the pork. This step will take 1 to 11/2 hours. Now, when doing this I did not notice my milk curdling ( I was using 1 %) or a major color change in the pork. However, when all the liquid had evaporated, what was left was delicious. Once all of the liquid has evaporated your port will look like pulled port, if it doesn't just stir a few times and all of your pork chunks will fall apart.

Carnitas should be served on corn tortilla that are heated up for a few seconds in a pan or in a microwave. We had ours with some freshly made pico de gallo (chop tomatoes, onions and/or green onions, and cilantro -- add lime or lemon juice and hot peppers if you like-- and mix), some left over avocado mayonnaise and homemade re-fried beans (easy! and post coming soon) along with a selection of hot sauces.

This recipe takes quite a long time to cook and is not the best choice for a night you are in a hurry. However, it is not effort intensive, and you do not have to watch it for the full 3 hours of cooking time. It just needs to be left to simmer away on the stove, with an occasional stir, and it will turn out delicious.