Beer Braised Pork Carnitas Tacos Recipes

BEER-BRAISED CARNITAS TACOS

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat (I use a 5 qt le creuset) and add the lard to the pot. Season the pork chunks liberally with salt and pepper.
• Place pieces of pork in the pan and brown on all sides. Add sliced onion, oranges, and garlic cloves to the pot and arrange around the pieces of pork. Then, add cumin, bay leaf, and dried chilies. Add beer and sprinkle the salt all over. If there is not enough liquid to come 3/4 of the way up the pork (we don't want to cover it), add a little water. Bring to a simmer and then remove from the heat and cover.
• Place in the oven and cook for 3 hours, until almost fork tender. Remove lid and cook for 1 hour more, or until tender enough to be pulled apart with a fork. Remove pot from oven and let the pork cool to room temperature. Re-cover, place in the fridge and allow to chill overnight.
• Before serving, pull the pork from the liquid and roughly shred it into pieces, discarding large pieces of fat. Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and add the pork to the pan until crispy on one side and golden brown. Season with extra salt as needed and serve on tortillas with pickled onions, salsa verde, and cilantro with some lime wedges on the side.
• To make the salsa verde: preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the tomatillo wedges, onion, serrano, and garlic with neutral oil and lightly season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, or until the tomatillos are starting to burst. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Transfer the contents of the sheet pan to a blender with any juices. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

BRAISED PORK CARNITAS

Steps:

• Heat a large, cast iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season pork shoulder with garlic, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Place pork shoulder fat-side down into the hot pot and sear until deep golden brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Add yellow onion to cook with rendered drippings for 1 minute. Slowly pour in pork stock to cover pork shoulder.
• Bring to a light boil; cover and braise until fork-tender, 4 1/2 to 5 hours.
• Transfer to a bowl and shred into carnitas, adding 1 1/2 cups of pork stock for moisture and more salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions and cook until slightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
• Heat corn tortillas in the hot skillet on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes total for each tortilla. Place braised pork into tortillas and garnish with cabbage, queso fresco, salsa, green onions, and a squeeze of lime.