Feb 15: Michoacan-Style Pork Carnitas

Watching PBS... I got to hankering to make carnitas.

Typically, the carnitas recipes I've run across cooks the pork by braising and the final step is to crisp up the meat by roasting in the oven or pan-frying. My first attempt at carnitas, Carnitas 2008

What caught my eye about this recipe is the pork is cooked in fat, sort of like a confit.
It's intriguing... yet a little daunting cooking in all that fat.

However, I'm always looking for a good carnitas recipe so I decided to give it a shot.

The recipe is based upon Chef Rick Bayless's recipe.
However, I scaled it back by 1/4th.

Michoacan-Style Pork Carnitas (http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=68)

2.5 lbs Pork Shoulder (skin-on picnic shoulder is a good choice, too)
1.5 lbs Pork Belly
2 T Lime Juice
1 T salt
1 lb Lard
1 C of Bacon Grease
2 Slices of Bacon
Vegetable oil as needed

Directions

1. Mix together the lime juice and salt. Smear the mixture on all sides of each piece of pork, cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

[I actually kind of backed off of using the whole 1T of salt for fear of creating salt pork. In the end, I probably used 1/2 T of salt and 2 or 3 T of lime juice.]


2. Heat over medium-high heat until the lard or oil reaches about 275 degrees.

[Lard, bacon and veggie oil.]


[As I was melting the lard, I remembered I had a stash of bacon dripping in the refrigerator. Yay! More flavor being added to the lard!]


Carefully lower in the pieces of pork, excluding the juices. (Add the bacon, if you're using it.) Adjust the heat to between medium and medium-low. After the oil's initial frenzy of having received the moist pork, it should settle into what looks like a brisk simmer when you have the temperature right. You'll notice, too, that the temperature will have dropped to just above 212 degrees - the boiling point of water - indicating that the meat is literally simmering in the oil. Using a pair of long tongs or one of those large Chinese wire strainer/skimmers, gently move the pieces of meat every 10 minutes or so.

[After adding the pork, I added about another cup of veggie oil to bring up the oil level. Added a couple extra slices of bacon for more flavor. This is the simmer phase of the cooking process, 212F. That's one big pot of oil!]


[Just in case... I added a splatter screen to minimize the mess.]


3. In about 1 1/4 hours, the meat should be completely tender, but not falling a part - start checking it at about 1 hour.

[After 70 minutes, the oil temp was raising, 230F at this point.]


When it is completely tender - meaning you can pretty easily pull it away from the bone - remove it to a large paper towel-lined pan. The carnitas are ready to eat - though they may not be as brown as you're expecting. (They will, however, take on more of a golden color as they begin to cool.)

[The meat was removed from the oil onto a paper towel lined dish.
The oil was heated to 325F for a final frying.

Yikes! The final 325F fry created quite a mess with a lot of splattering.
Be careful with this step.]


To give them a richly browned exterior, heat the oil to 325F.
Fry one piece at a time and let brown - it'll only take 45 seconds to a minute.
Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a low oven until you're ready to serve.

[After the final fry, I sprinkled a little SusyQ, garlic powder and onion powder onto the hot carnitas.

The finished carnitas... shredded with a fork. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Note the thick bark - crispy brown layer on the surface!]


The Finished Carnitas - Carnitas Tostada.

Yum!


The Layers:
Corn Tortilla
Refried Beans
Red Onions
Lettuce
Tomato
Green Onion
Salsa
Parmesan
Sliced avocado and extra tomato served on the side.


Notes about the recipe...
1) Cooking at 325F created a lot of splatter.
* Too much moisture from the pork belly and skin?
* Next time will not use pork belly nor will I buy skin-on pork.
2) In lieu of the 325F browning step, just frying longer with higher heat will probably be good enough.
3) The 1/2T was enough salt.
* Read other recipes online where people actually pour orange juice into the simmering oil.
* Also, can add other spices to the oil or into the marinade.

Overall, a tasty version of carnitas with a lot of potential and variations to add extra flavor to the pork.

Dec 21: Mexican Food in CA

Now that I'm rested from drive down to California. I have to have get my Mexican food fix.

This place came highly recommended for their carnitas. Carnitas is essentially twice-cooked pork. Pork is slowly braised until falling apart tender and just before serving the pork is fried to form a crispy outer layer.

What neat about this mom and pop supermarket is that the taqueria/deli is adjacent to the meat counter. To me, this implies all their food is fresh.


S had the carnitas taco.


I had the carnitas burrito. A burrito filled with carnitas, rice, refried beans and salsa.


The carnitas was delicious. A mild onion, garlic flavor without being overpowered by chiles.

May 12: Pozole (Carnitas leftovers again!)

I've been trying to figure out what to do with the last bits of leftover carnitas.
Initially, taquitos and flautas were planned but the more I thought about the deep frying, the cleaning and leftover oil, I changed my mind.

I decided to make Pozole.
Pozole (or Posole) is a pork and hominy soup/stew which sounds more appetizing and healthier than a plate of deep fried food.

The Fixins'
4 Cups of Broth/Water - I had 1 cup of braising juice and added 1 14.5 oz can of broth plus water to make up he difference.
1 - 29 oz can Hominy
1/2 Onion, chopped (reserved 1 T for garnish)
1/2 Jalapeno, diced
1/4 C Cilantro, chopped
1 C Carnitas, coarse chop
Couple pinches Oregano and Basil, crumbled
Salt and Pepper

Sweat the onion, jalapeno and cilantro in a little oil, salt and pepper.
Add the broth and pork bring to a boil.
Add the hominy and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Hominy is dried corn kernels that have been soaked in lye. The alkali solution helps break down the tough outer hull of the kernel and removes the germ. The geek word for today is "nixtamalization." Hominy is also the basis for grits - the Southern breakfast hot porridge.

This is the hominy. I purchased the Mexican-style hominy. I don't know what that means. However, it looks like the germ is still attached - the yellow bits on the end of the kernel. Also, some hull bits are still attached. I guess this is a homey style of hominy.


After 20 minutes, the finished soup.
Garnished with thinly sliced cabbage, chopped onions, cilantro leaves, diced jalapeno and a few slices of avocado (for added richness.)


While the soup cooked, I pan-fried some carnitas to make a quesadilla.

Two tortillas between a layer of refried beans, carnitas and cheese.


The soup definitely hit the spot. The broth was very flavorful while the hominy was more towards the bland side. I feel my cholesterol dropping with each spoonful. The quesadilla was my grilled cheese to the pozole soup. :-)

May 7: Enchiladas

Since I have leftover carnitas, this is a Mexican-style version of corned beef hash (aka enchiladas, aka aka fun with leftovers...)

After a couple days of rice and beans, I was craving potatoes. The idea of the potatoes cooking in the flavorful broth sounded appealing, plus having different veggies other than beans.

The Fixins'
2 Potatoes, peeled and diced (about 2 C)
3/4 C Broth
1/2 C Water (to dilute the extra strength broth from the carnitas)
1 Green Onion, chopped
1 T Cilantro, chopped
1/2 C Peas
1/4 C Carrots, coarse chop
1/2 C Carnitas, chopped (Didn't want too much meat, but can add more as desired)
1/2 C Frozen Chopped Spinach, defrosted

Simmer potatoes in the broth, add green onions and cilantro, cook until soft, about 20 minutes.
Add peas, carrots and carnitas during last 5 minutes.
Remove the potatoe mixture and reserve the liquid.

In lieu of an enchilada sauce, I used the broth to wet and soften the tortillas. Add more as needed.

The rolling:
about 1 T of spinach followed with about 2 T Potato mixture.
Roll and Repeat


With the leftover broth, mix in 1/4 C of salsa.
Pour over top of rolled enchiladas and top with cheese.


Bake in oven: 350F for 10 minutes to melt cheese.


The Final Dish
Enchilada served with the rice and beans and a dab of guacamole.


Even though the enchilada looks on the dry side, the tortilla absorbed some of the broth which made them quite moist. The flavor was good with the potatoes picking up the flavors of the broth, green onions and cilantro.

May 5: Happy Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican-American celebration commemorating the first Mexican army's victory over the French... back in the olden days.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I'm making carnitas. Based upon my dining experiences with carnitas, carnitas is a pork dish that is either 1) braised and served in the cooking liquid, 2) twice cooked where the carnitas is first braised and finally cooked in a little oil to crisp up the meat, 3) the carnitas is simply grilled pork and 4) pork that is deep fried. Carnitas is not a spicy dish nor a tomato based dish.

My version is the twice-cooked carnitas.

The Fixin's
The night before the pork is seasoned:
4 lb pork should roast bone-in
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 to 2 T Susie-Q seasoning
1/2 t Garlic Powder
1/2 t Onion Powder
1/2 t Dried Basil, crumbled
1/2 t Dried Oregano, crumbled
2T Vermouth - the pork was looking a little dry so I added the vermouth to help marinade the pork.
Black Pepper - a few grinds

Dumped everything into a zip-loc to marinade overnight.

The cooking:
The next morning - dumped everything into a Dutch oven.
Added 2 C broth
Brought to a boil and simmered 5 minutes.
The rest of the cooking was in a pre-heated oven about 175F for about 10 hours, while I was a work.
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The results after the long, slow cooking. The house wafted with the pleasant aroma of garlic and onions.
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I couldn't resist taking a small bite. The meat is flavorful with onion and garlic, juicy and melted in my mouth. :)
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While the meat was cooling, I made guacamole.
Guacamole
1 avocado
2 T minced fresh onions
1 big clove of garlic, mashed through a garlic press
1 T Cilantro, hand shredded
2 T Salsa
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash onion powder
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 lime juice

Mash and blend
Cover and refrigerate so the flavors can meld.
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The carnitas was shredded and defatted. The long slow braising made for easy shredding. The fat and mystery bits separates easily from the meat.
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Shredded Carnitas... What to do next?
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Traditionally, the carnitas is crisped in a skillet with lard. I didn't have any lard, but I did have the drippings skimmed from the cooking broth. Some people may see this as a bowl of fat to be discarded. I see this a bowl of golden, elixir of flavor.
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With drippings, I added a tablespoon to a can of refried beans and another tablespoon was used to fry the pork.

With the braising liquid, I made my version of Mexican rice.

Mexican Rice (pictures were blurry, from hunger?)
2 C Long Grain Rice, uncooked
2T oil
2.5 C braising liquid (didn't need any broth or other seasoning since there was a lot of flavor)
1/4 C Salsa

Cooked the rice in oil to a light brown.
Added the liquid and the salsa and cooked for 25 minutes. (Bring to a boil and lower to medium-low heat.)

The Final Dish
Carnitas served with guacamole, rice, tortillas, beans and a twist of lime.
The meal had a lot of flavor from the pork and the braising liquid used in the rice. I actually surprised myself at how well the dish turned out. lol... Main flavors were garlic, onions and a light hint of the herbs.
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PS... Shawn, You need to get here soon. My freezer is almost full with the blog food I'm saving for you. :-D