Ancho Carnitas Recipes

CARNITAS WALKING TACOS

Steps:

• Place the pork shoulder, garlic, bay leaves, large chunks of onion, ancho chile powder, cumin, cloves, orange juice, lime juice, 1 tablespoon salt, a generous amount of black pepper and 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook until the meat is tender and can easily be shredded with a fork, 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
• Remove the pork to a large bowl and use two forks to shred. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the pork and 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is crispy and dark brown, about 15 minutes. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining oil, pork and 1/2 cup cooking liquid (discard the remaining liquid), another 15 minutes.
• Open the tortilla chip bags and crush a few of the chips. Gently roll down the tops of the bags about a third of the way. Fill the bags with some dollops of sour cream, then pork, then garnish with the finely chopped onions, radishes, cilantro and a few dashes of hot sauce. Serve with the lime wedges.
• In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, chili powder, salt and lime zest. Set aside.

CARNITAS (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)

Steps:

• Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
• Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
• Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don't worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
• Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Note 2 for other cook methods)
• Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
• Optional: Skim off the fat from the juices remaining in the slow cooker and discard.
• If you have a lot more than 2 cups of juice, then reduce it down to about 2 cups. The liquid will be salty, it is the seasoning for the pork. Set liquid aside - don't bother straining onion etc, it's super soft.

CALAFIA CITRUS CARNITAS

Steps:

• For the rub: Place the chile powder, ginger powder, salt, cumin powder, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves in a food processor and process until the cinnamon sticks are completely pulverized into powder.
• For the carnitas: After you've made the carnitas rub, apply it to the 5 portioned pieces of pork shoulder. Refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat the convection oven to 350 degrees F.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed large braising pot and add the oil. Just before the oil reaches the smoking point, carefully add in the pork shoulder pieces, one piece at a time. Careful not to crowd the meat -- you want it to cook evenly brown all around and get a good caramelization on the meat, turning it as little as possible. If your braising pot is too small for all 5 pieces at once, do it in small batches, eventually transferring everything into another pot which will go into the oven.
• Once the pork is browned evenly, remove and set aside on a baking sheet.
• While the pan is still hot, add the onions into the same pan and sweat down. Then add in your garlic and bay leaves and cook for about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the beer, using a wooden spoon to scrape and release all the tasty browned bits of porky goodness. Reduce the beer by half, and then add in the orange juice. Bring to a boil, return the pork to the braising pot followed by the orange halves, cover the pot and place into the oven. Cook until the pork is tender and pulls apart easily, about 3 1/2 hours.
• Reserve the pork braising liquid which you can use to heat the pulled pork back up before you add the BBQ sauce to it.
• For the house-made ketchup: Mix the water and vinegar together in a large bowl.
• Mix the tomato paste with the honey, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cayenne and garlic powder in a large heavy-bottomed non-reactive saucepot. Mix in the liquids. Whisk everything together over medium heat on your stove top. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer 1 1/2 hours. Taste for salt balance, then strain through a fine mesh strainer. This is the first part of the Calafia BBQ sauce.
• For the Calafia hot sauce: Combine the tomato paste, water, tamarind paste, orange juice, pinot noir, vinegar, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, carrots, celery, onions habaneros, jalapenos, chipotles, ginger, brown sugar, coriander and cumin in a large heavy-bottomed non-reactive saucepot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
• Transfer the mixture to a high-powered blender and puree until ultra-smooth. Pass the hot sauce through a fine mesh strainer and taste for salt balance.
• To make the Calafia BBQ sauce you combine 2/3 of the Calafia house-made ketchup to 1/3 of the Calafia hot sauce. If you like your sauce spicier, you can always add more hot sauce to the ketchup.
• Once you've blended your sauces together well, introduce the sauce to the braised and pulled pork. Mix small amounts of pork to sauce until you've achieved the saucy desired delicious porky consistency.
• Now your pork is sauced and ready serve over steamed organic brown rice, sauteed organic baby spinach and roasted yams.

ANCHO CARNITAS

Steps:

• Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Should be thick, if not, cook a little longer in the next step. Preheat a skillet to medium high, and add 2 TB oil. When it is very hot, but not smoking add the contents of the blender, and fry for 1 minute until slightly reduced, then add the carnitas and stir until well mixed and continue cooking until all pork is coated and warm. Serve in burritos, or with rice, and pico de gallo.

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Cut the meat, with the fat, into 1-inch cubes. Barely cover the meat with water in a heavy wide pan. Add the salt and bring to a boil, uncovered. When the liquid reaches a boil, lower the heat, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. At this point, the meat should be cooked through but not falling apart.
• Lower the heat a little more and continue cooking the meat until all the fat has rendered out of it. Keep turning the meat until it is lightly browned all over. This entire process should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Remove the meat and set aside.
• Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat over medium low heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the garlic, reserved meat, and chile powder. Cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Serve with corn tortillas and Tropical Avocado Salsa.
• To make tropical salsa, combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl and stir well. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, combine pork, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and the oregano, and toss to evenly coat the meat in the spices. Squeeze orange juice all over the pork and add the juiced orange quarters to the pot. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon stick and bay leaf, and toss until well incorporated, nestling everything in an even layer. Drizzle oil evenly over the meat. Cover and braise in oven until pork is tender, about 2 1/2 hours, stirring once halfway through the cooking.
• Heat broiler to high, setting a rack 6 inches from the heat source. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and shred the meat. Strain juices from the pot through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, pressing on the solids; discard solids. Skim fat from top and reserve the juices.
• Broil pork until golden and crisp in spots, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer carnitas to serving plates and drizzle with some of the reserved juices. Serve warm with tortillas and toppings of choice.