I usually smoke pork ribs for the Arkie game every year, but I'm thinking of doing something different and going with carnitas.

Anyone have a swear-by carnitas recipe? I'd actually prefer a less traditional one that doesn't swim in a gallon of lard while cooking.

Thanks in advance.

Bruce Almighty said:

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Cut a 3 or 4 pound pork butt into 2 inch cubes.
Mix with 1 tsp each of cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano and pepper and place into a dutch oven.
Add the juice of 2 limes, 1/2 cup of OJ, 5 cloves of sliced garlic, 3 bay leaves and a couple of cinnamon sticks.
Add water until the pork is submerged, bring to a boil on stove top and place in a 325 degree oven.
Cook for 3-4 hours until the meat is fork tender, turning the meat over every 30 minutes or so. The liquid should be mostly evaporated, leaving behind the rendered fat.
Pour the meat onto a foil lined baking sheet with all the fat, shred into pieces, then place under your broiler for about 6 minutes. Turn meat over and broil 5-6 minutes longer until crispy.

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This is pretty much what I do but I like to add a few tablespoons of condensed milk in the beginning and I usually just cook in the oven in a heavy pot at around 300 till tender then fry it in the lard on the griddle after shredding.

Authentic Carnitas has to be made with a lot of Lard.

https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/authentic-carnitas-and-three-pounds-of-lard

BurnetAggie99 said:

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Authentic Carnitas has to be made with a lot of Lard.

https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/authentic-carnitas-and-three-pounds-of-lard

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"Authentic" carnitas are also made with more cuts of meat than just pork butt. If you get the real deal in Mexico, you're getting cuts of the pig most American cooks aren't going to use.

I've done the gallon of lard thing, and I actually prefer the non traditional method as you can infuse other flavors into the meat. Cooking the pork in straight lard kills any flavors you add to the meat.

If you ever in Austin or San Antonio I'd recommend trying Carnitas El Gero. Some outstanding stuff.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2021-11-19/how-carnitas-el-guero-got-so-good-at-its-namesake-dish

Trying this out with ribs and pork butt.

https://jesspryles.com/smoked-al-pastor-ribs/

I'll confirm this is great and very easy. I make it frequently

Came to post this Serious Eats recipe as well. Makes great leftovers you can quickly heat up in a skillet...also a great topping for breakfast tacos.

A few tips that may be obvious to some, but not to others. When adding the vegetable oil, I would only use the recommended 1/4c if your pork is very lean, otherwise if your pork has enough fat on it already, you don't really need to add that much. Make sure to use a sheet pan for the broiling process at the end instead of a pyrex dish (to avoid a potential oven full of pyrex shards). And when blending the salsa, you are adding just the vegetables to the blender, not the extra liquid.

Another for your consideration. I've done it maybe a dozen times now, all with good results.

https://cafedelites.com/pork-carnitas-mexican-slow-cooked-pulled-pork/

I'm trying to decide between the Rick Bayless sous vide method or the serious eats recipe. Both sound good.

Anyone who's tried both want to weigh in on their favorite?

I don't have a tried and true recipe but in order to get good results you don't have to boil it in lard. There's plenty of fat already in a pork butt. The thing that's helped me get better results is when the pork is done cooking I shred it and put it on a sheet tray. Put the tray in the oven and bake/broil to crisp it up. The crispy texture is as important as anything when it comes to good carnitas. Carnitas isn't just pulled pork, if you get the texture right, you've won.

This thread just talked me into the Bayless recipe. Either the crockpot or sous vide version. Sounds like Sunday is pork day.

I've used this recipe with much success

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/carnitas.html

After I brown up the meat, I put everything in a foil pan and then on the smoker at high heat - adds a nice smokey flavor.

Thinking about doing this tomorrow as well.

Mathguy64 said:

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This thread just talked me into the Bayless recipe. Either the crockpot or sous vide version. Sounds like Sunday is pork day.

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If you don't eat pork tomorrow the Ags will lose. It's science.

If you want to take the sous vide carnitas over the top, line a loaf pan with wax paper, place the meat into the pan, place foil on top and top with heavy cans or a foil covered brick. Place in fridge overnight. When you take the meat out, it will be a solid block. Slice the meat and fry slices in lard or oil on all sides. I had it this way at one of Rick Bayless' restaurants. It was served as a solid slice and when you cut into it, everything fell apart. It was the best carnitas I've ever had. I've tried this at home once, and it was great, but time consuming.

HTownAg98 said:

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You can make just as good carnitas without having to buy pounds of lard by using this recipe. The key is to start with a butt that has a good fat cap, and packing everything tightly in the braising dish.
https://www.seriouseats.com/no-waste-tacos-de-carnitas-with-salsa-verde-recipe

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This looks like a good method. Con confirm that broiling the shredded pork for crispiness is a must!

I made Bayless' crock pot version today using Manteca from La Mich. it was good but underwhelming. It just didn't have much flavor beyond pork on top of pork. It was the right tenderness and texture after forming the crust in the skillet at the end. Flat is about the best description I have.

Slow cooker is the culprit. They're terrible at developing flavor because they don't cook hot enough to evaporate liquid and concentrate flavor.

Maybe too simple and not authentic based on some of these recipes, but easy and has gotten good reviews.

Cube half a pork butt, sear it in batches on all sides in a little oil in a dutch oven, deglaze with some water and scrape all the bits. Add the meat back and mostly cover it with water. Add salt, pepper, cumin, 5 or 6 smashed garlic cloves, and 4 or 5 Bay leaves. Simmer covered for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and shreddable. Remove the meat and reduce the liquid until it is essentially just fat. Add 1 orange worth of juice and fry the shredded pork.

Gets crisper when you reheat it in a skillet the next day.

coastalAg said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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Slow cooker is the culprit. They're terrible at developing flavor because they don't cook hot enough to evaporate liquid and concentrate flavor.

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Dutch oven on the stove top over electric slow cookers all day every day!

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Yep. The recipe I posted above calls for a slow cooker but we don't have one. We always use our enameled cast iron pots for it. Works every time.

I ended up doing the serious eats recipe instead of the Rick Bayless sous vide recipe because I slept in Sat morning and didn't leave myself enough time to do the sous vide.

I and my guests were very happy with the results and it will likely be a go-to for me from now on.

Some modifications I made to the base recipe which is here https://www.seriouseats.com/no-waste-tacos-de-carnitas-with-salsa-verde-recipe :

- I didn't use the cinnamon as I've used that before in carnitas and am not crazy about it.

- I used some Mexican oregano as a pre-cook seasoning for the pork.

- I used lard from bacon grease instead of vegetable oil to cover the tops of the pork chunks before cooking.

All of these modifications were enhancements IMO based on the flavors of the finished product.

For salsa, instead of the salsa in the recipe I did a different serious eats recipe which is my go-to as by far my favorite non-tomato based salsa: https://www.seriouseats.com/charred-salsa-verde-tomatillo-salsa . If you haven't ever tried this salsa, it's easy and incredible.

Game changer for me, regardless of cooking method, is to heat up some clarified butter in skillet and flash fry it when its done. Gives you some flavor with the butter and then texture from the flash fry.

Adding plenty of salt afterwards is important as well

I have been following this thread off and on and there are some really neat recipes and ideas on here. But alas I am a purist on a lot of things and true "carnitas" are basically deep fried in a copper pot, which is part of them getting their golden color. Authentic Mexican carnitas are going to be a mish mash of a variety of pig parts and meat, these are cheap eats that were designed to be tasty and cheap. True carnitas are not stewed or baked or anything similar.

When I think about carnitas I reminisce about going down to the local street food area as a kid and ordering a bag full of greasy goodness by the kilo, along with corn tortillas and salsa. The bag would usually break due to the heat and grease so you needed to get a plastic one as well. There was never anything hygienic or proper about this, but goodness gracious the stuff was good.

This is a pretty good video about real, authentic carnitas that you will typically get in about 75% of Mex, the far north and south being the exception. The "La Michoacana" stores used to have really good and very authentic carnitas, at least the ones in South Texas, years ago but I haven't had any lately.

This is a pretty good video of the process, albeit a bit long.

RGV AG said:

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I have been following this thread off and on and there are some really neat recipes and ideas on here. But alas I am a purist on a lot of things and true "carnitas" are basically deep fried in a copper pot, which is part of them getting their golden color. Authentic Mexican carnitas are going to be a mish mash of a variety of pig parts and meat, these are cheap eats that were designed to be tasty and cheap. True carnitas are not stewed or baked or anything similar.

When I think about carnitas I reminisce about going down to the local street food area as a kid and ordering a bag full of greasy goodness by the kilo, along with corn tortillas and salsa. The bag would usually break due to the heat and grease so you needed to get a plastic one as well. There was never anything hygienic or proper about this, but goodness gracious the stuff was good.

This is a pretty good video about real, authentic carnitas that you will typically get in about 75% of Mex, the far north and south being the exception. The "La Michoacana" stores used to have really good and very authentic carnitas, at least the ones in South Texas, years ago but I haven't had any lately.

This is a pretty good video of the process, albeit a bit long.

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This lady must be from South America. In my "in between marriages" days I dated a lady from Columbia that couldn't speak a word of English. We went to an HEBto get some groceries and I picked up some limes and called them limas.....she said "no es correcto. Esos se llaman limones . Evidently limes are called limones there instead of limas

I just made a double batch (really a quadruple batch) of the serious eats sous vide carnitas recipe (https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-carnitas-crispy-mexican-style-pulled-pork-recipe) which I've now made several times and is my go to.

I did the sous vide in two bags and want to freeze one. I'm curious about any potential issues arising from freezing them in the food saver bag they're already in for the sous vide, that still has oranges, onions, garlic and bay leaves in it (along with some cinnamon, achiote, and cumin). Anyone done this?

Seems like it should be fine, but I don't want to be relying on these for a future meal only to find out that there's been some kind of weird flavor transfer or texture issue from being mixed with all that stuff for too long.