Carnitas

I am always looking for simple recipes that can be made ahead and feed a crowd without breaking the bank. Oh, and they have to be delicious. This recipe checks off all the boxes.

Carnitas are essentially a Mexican pulled pork that is that is put into a taco, and if that has not enticed you then you must not like food. This recipe uses a cheap large pork shoulder which gets cut up and slowly cooked until it breaks down and tenderizes. At the end the dish is finished up under the broiler so that it crisps up and adds some delicious char. You can cook the pork entirely in advance and put it under the broiler to crisp it up just before serving. The most time consuming part of the entire dish is cutting up the meat into chunks. After that, it is mostly hands off.

Use the meat as part of an interactive taco bar, and let your guests assemble their own tacos with whatever toppings they want.

I recently served this dish for my son’s birthday. With several picky toddlers, making tacos to order definitely came in handy. However, it seems that the last few meals I have served at gatherings were a little “foreign” to my meat-and-potatoes grandfather. I must say, trying to teach him how to make and eat a soft-shelled taco was entertaining!

Carnitas

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Serious Eats

Pork
Pork 3 pounds boneless pork butt (shoulder), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2 inch cubes
Kosher salt
1 medium onion, quartered
1 medium orange
6 garlic cloves, split in half
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3-4 pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Tortillas
Tortillas 18 (6 inch) tortillas
lime wedges
minced red onion
fresh cilantro leaves
thinly sliced radishes
queso fresco or feta cheese
Salsa verde or pico de gallo

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 275F. Season the pork chunks with 1 Tbsp of salt and place in a 9 x 13 glass casserole dish. The pork should fill the dish with no spaces. Split the orange into quarters and squeeze the juice over the pork. Nestle the squeezed orange pieces, onion quarters, garlic cloves, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks into the casserole. Pour vegetable oil over the surface. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Cook until the pork is fork tender, about 3 1/2 hours.

Set a large, fine-meshed strainer over a 1 quart measuring cup or bowl. Using tongs, remove the orange peel, onion, garlic, cinnamon and bay leaves from the pork. Transfer the pork and liquid to a strainer and let it drain for 10 minutes. Transfer the pork back to the casserole. You should end up with about 1/2 cup of liquid and 1/2 cup of fat. Skim the fat from the surface and add it back to the pork. Shred the pork with two forks, season to taste with salt and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. When ready to serve, place the casserole dish with the pork 4 inches under a high broiler and broil until brown and crisp on the surface, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir, and broil again for 6 more minutes until crisp. Tent with foil and keep warm.

Heat the tortillas. Add 2-3 Tbsp of the carnitas to the center of the tortillas and top with the garnishes. Serve with lime wedges.