I love good mexican food, not the kind from Taco Bell but the kind you can only find in the little “hole in wall” types of places. When I’ve had carnitas (cooked pork), it’s been anything from great to worse than bad. That said, I’ve been looking for a recipe that was easy to make and would still taste great. Luckily I found one through some diligent Google research.
Normally to make carnitas you need to cook the pork in fat for about 12 hours but that wasn’t going to work. I don’t live in a campo and I have things to do during the day. Luckily I found this simple recipe that fit into my time requirements:
- Take 1 Pork Butt (6 to 8 lbs) and slice it into strips about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long.
- Place the strips into a dutch oven and just cover with about 2 cups of water, 1 cup of orange juice and 2 teaspoons of salt, mix it all together.
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 2 hours, uncovered. Do not stir the meat!
4. After 2 hours, turn the heat onto medium high and boil off the remaining water (pay attention because this can get away from you, meaning you can burn your meat here).
5. Cook on medium high for about 40 minutes. After 20 minutes most of your water will be gone and you will be left with rendered fat. Make sure you stir them a few times to keep them from burning but not too much, you want them to be a little crunchy on the outside.
6. Enjoy.
I fried up some corn tortillas and served them with the carnitas, shredded jack cheese and salsa verde. It was to die for!
