Authentic Carnitas

Summer’s answer to comfort food, authentic carnitas are easy to prepare and easier to eat. Carnitas have a citrus-kissed savoriness that plays nicely with heat and bright herbs. Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

Carnitas are on a pretty regular rotation around here. Maybe it’s because they present so many options. And it’s good to have options. Rolled into soft pillowy tortillas, dressed up in a bowl, spread onto homemade chips, topped with authentic guacamole and made into nachos. Carnitas should be renamed. What do you think about changing their name to flex-itas? Opt-itas? YUM-itas? Ok, carnitas it is and they is good.

why carnitas?

Bad grammar aside, I love making dishes like carnitas because they are so easy to put together. Carnitas are essentially a braised dish and actually translates to “little meat”. A big cut of meat gets cubed into big pieces and is simmered on the stove with a sundry of spices, dried herbs and in this case, citrus, before finishing slowly in the oven on low heat. It’s the kind of meal that in the winter you make on a Sunday; in spring, you make them in the afternoon and in the summer (when you’re organized), you make them in the morning because turning on the oven sometimes feels—well—wrong.

Trust me, there’s nothing wrong about carnitas.

In fact, there’s everything right about them. Because they are just plain hard to mess up.

How to make carnitas

Carnitas start with a pork shoulder roast. To make extra authentic carnitas, you should start with a bone-in pork shoulder. Boneless works just as well and still can be called authentic because, let’s be honest, you didn’t go to a certain fast-casual restaurant and pick up your carnitas, did you? You’re making them homemade which equates to authenticity in my book.

Back to how to make carnitas. I get so off-track.

• Put your cubed meat into a dutch oven (for reference, the one pictured here is a well-loved 5 1/2 qt. That means the stains on it have been hard-earned like the wrinkles on my face.
• Add the dried spices- the oregano, cumin and bay leaves.
• Zest up an orange and then juice it. While you’ve got your juicer out, juice a lime too for some extra tartness.
• Toss in a little H2O and you’re on your way to dinner.

the key to perfect carnitas…It’s all about the sauce, baby!

Once your pork has had its way in the oven, you’ll take it out and remove it and the bay leaves from the braising liquid. This is the magic part. You’ll fire up the stove and reduce that liquid down to this syrupy thick sauce. It takes a few minutes but it truly makes the dish.

Because you’re going to broil that pork until it’s all crisp and perfect. When it comes out of the broiler, just try and resist a bite. I bet you can’t.

Tips:

Now here’s where the flexibility comes in! Check out some options:

For a few:

✓bowl – great for meal prep or to munch on all week

✓salad – a lightened up version

✓tacos – makes the whole family happy

✓omelet filling – carnitas for breakfast? Yessss!

For a crowd:

✓nachos – make a big pan for a last-minute gathering!

✓pizza topping – another crowd-pleaser