Angela’s Pork Carnitas

Picture from: joyouslydomestic
Image Credit: Angela

Angela’s Pork Carnitas

"The recipe calls for using pork butt, but I used a boneless pork loin.  It worked just fine, but I plan to follow the instructions and use pork butt in the future.  I think the extra marbling and fat is necessary ... I had to drizzle some olive oil on mine this time before broiling at the end due to lack of fat." Angela

Ingredients:

4 pound boneless pork butt or roast, fat trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes (mine was just over 3 

pounds, but worked fine)

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¾ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 onion, peeled and halved

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 cups water

1 medium orange, juiced and "spent halves" reserved

Olive Oil (as needed)

Preparation:

Adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 300°F.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, including the spent orange halves and 

juice.

Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.

Once it simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven.

Cook until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours. (Mine was ready about 

20 minutes short of two hours.)

Remove the pot from the oven and turn on the broiler.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and place it on a large foil-lined jelly roll 

pan.

Remove and discard everything from the pot except for the cooking liquid.

Place pot over high heat on the stove and boil until thick and syrupy ... mine took only about 5 

minutes, but it can take up to 20 minutes.

You should have about 1 cup of liquid remaining when it is finished.

When you remove the meat from the oven after cooking until tender, you should have a decent 

amount of liquid remaining after removing the meat. 

If you don't, you can add in a little chicken stock, water or some more juice from another orange. 

This is what I had to do ... I opted for additional orange juice.

While the liquid is reducing, use two forks to pull each cube of pork into three equal sized 

pieces.

Once the liquid has becomes thickened, gently fold in the pieces of pork to the pot.

Try not to break up the pork any further.

Taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.

Spread the pork back onto the foil-lined pan and evenly spread the meat around so that there is 

a single layer of meat. (I drizzled on a little olive oil because my cut of pork wasn't very fatty and 

the meat needed some oil to help with the browning process.)

Place the jelly roll pan on the middle rack of the oven and broil until the top of the meat is well-

browned and edges are slightly crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Using a wide metal spatula, flip the pieces of meat and broil the other side until well-browned 

and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes.

Serve immediately in a tortilla with all of your favorite toppings.

Enjoy this amazing recipe and many more when visiting joyouslydomestic