The Best Pork Carnitas

My husband judges most Mexican restaurants by the quality of their Pork Carnitas. In my household, it’s a meal that we eat somewhat regularly.

Why eat out, when you can’t really top your own?

I had two recipes that were delicious and simple, and this one comes from a blend of the two.

THE BEST PORK CARNITAS

Begin with good meat. I know, I talk a lot about buying local, humanely raised meat. It really DOES matter. For the taste,  your health, the planet, the animal.

I use a shoulder or butt roast. This one was a bit large to fit inside of my pot with the lid on… so I cut a slice off the bottom to make it fit.

Step one:  Salt and pepper the meat.

Step two: Slather the pork roast with mustard.  (Dijon is great – though this time I used a blend of yellow and whole seed mustard… it was what I had on hand)

Step three:  Drizzle with honey.  (It was probably about 1/2 cup)

Step four:  Sprinkle with seasonings.  I use dried oregano and a natural mexican spice blend (cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic, onion, and chili powder), then a bit more salt.  (It’s a big hunk of meat, afterall.) You want to be generous here – sort of forming a crust.

Step five:  Squeeze orange juice into the pot.  I used the juice of two oranges.

Step six:  Put the lid on and pop into the oven to SLOW cook.   My favorite way to do this is put the oven down to 225 and leave it overnight while I sleep.  Then,  the next day, I turn my oven down to the lowest setting and keep it warm until it’s time to eat.   There are times when I only have 6 hours or so to do this, so I turn the heat up to 250 and it’s deliciously tender.  You can absolutely do this in a crock pot, as well.

 

 

Shred with two forks, and pour the lovely juices from the pan back over the meat.

 

The end result is incredible.

Serve on top of a corn tortilla with some simple toppings. Our faves  are a simple cabbage, cilantro & onion slaw with fresh salsa.

Check here for the recipe for these homemade organic corn tortillas.  ENJOY!