Last year when I was in Mexico, I had some tacos at a local place. This place was famous for carnitas, and the locals would come and buy them by the kilogram. They were crispy and salty and exactly what you want from a mouth-watering, slow-cooked pork. I told my guide about how I make carnitas at home, and bragged about how I slow cook them for 12 plus hours. He laughed in my face and told me that they weren’t traditional. And it’s true, they’re not traditional, but they are delicious. This recipe originally came from Downshiftology.com.
Carnitas, a Mexican pork dish made by braising, simmering and frying pork in its own fat, lard, is a great base for a number of meals. You can do salads, tacos, burritos, nachos, breakfast scramble, or even on its own, straight from the fridge. I don’t braise, simmer or fry the pork, I just chuck it in the slowcooker for 12 hours. That really does do the trick.
serves 6
Ingredients
- 1-1.5kg boneless pork shoulder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapeno, finely diced (deseed if you don’t want this too spicy)
- 1 orange, juiced
Method
- Mix the seasoning. In a small bowl stir together the oregano, cumin, black pepper, salt, and chili powder.
- Trim any excess fat from the pork shoulder, then rub the spice mixture generously around the entire pork shoulder and place in the slow cooker.
- Add the onion, minced garlic, jalapeno, and orange juice to the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or high for 5 to 6 hours.
- Pull the pork out of the slowcooker. At this point, you can either keep it as it is, or you can spread it out across an oven tray and grill for 10 minutes or until the pork is slightly crispy.
- Serve, or put in the fridge. This will keep for about 4 days in the fridge, or put it in the freezer for a rainy day.
