Carnitas to the Rescue

I love Carnitas. I love them so much I cannot possibly write about them without capitalizing the word. Like many braised/stewed dishes, it’s THE ideal comfort food perfect to be consumed during the cold season.

What exactly are Carnitas? According to Wikipedia, it is “is a type of braised or roasted (often after first being simmered) pork in Mexican cuisine.” Also, according to Wikipedia, it usually takes 8-10 hours to make and is traditionally cooked using lard. We certainly don’t have that kind of time being busy modern-day people, and most of us are health-conscious enough to not eat lard. So as modern-day Kitchen Rulers, we must adapt: I have searched near and far for a good healthier recipe and after some tinkering in the cooking quarters, am very happy to bring you something that takes a quarter of the time and tastes incredibly delicious.

Now I know I just posted a recipe about for pork baby-back ribs…so don’t you go thinking that Rule Your Kitchen should be renamed Rule Your Pork. I promise to take a break from piggies after this, but I simply had to share this easy-to-make and yummy recipe. Warning: you will want to lick every last remnant of meat out of the serving platter.

I prefer to serve this dish either as a dish with rice and beans or as “make-your-own tacos” with the salsa/sour cream/guacamole route. You can also use this as a base for a burrito, a tamale or a quesadilla, although unlike other quesadilla combos, there is no real sense of using cheese with it, because it tends to take away from the incredible flavor of the meat.

So to feed 2 hungry people…you’ll need:

• 3—3.5 pounds of pork butt or pork shoulder. (“Pork butt” is not actually the booty of the pig….it’s actually the “shoulder” of the front quarters). See “Buying the Meat” below for more info.
• 2 cups (or more) of water
• 1½ cups of good orange juice with lots of pulp (unless pulp is not your thing).
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of grated orange peel (about 1 medium-sized orange)
• 1/3 cup of brandy
• 1 lime (optional)


Buying the Meat:

Like Alton Brown has said repeatedly on many of his “Good Eats” segments, it’s incredibly important to have a butcher that you know and trust. In my world, this butcher is A&S Foods, a fantastic Italian specialty food shop 6 blocks from my house. They always have good fresh meats that can be bought either “bone-in” (meaning “giant chunk of meat with the bone still attached” – not recommended), “bulk” (meaning “giant chunk of meat sans bone”) or “trimmed” (meaning “giant cut of meat sans bone cut into pieces of your specification with the fat trimmed off).

Simply put, “bulk” is better if you want to save some money and don’t mind doing the dirty work. “Trimmed” is better if you want the dirty work done for you and are willing to pay a little more. The first couple of times I made this dish, I asked the pros to chop up the meat. Whichever option you choose, ask to look at the meat before buying—it should be light pink in color with pretty heavy marbling and no visible discoloration.

3.5 pounds of "bulk" should look like this:



Whether “bulk” or “trimmed”, the end product you want to have is pieces no larger than 2 inches by 2 inches roughly cubed. Have only the giant pieces of fat cut off and discarded, but leave the rest of the fat in (we will need it to create flavor since it will cook off). If you’re dealing with a good butcher, he will know what you’re looking for as long as you describe it like I did above.

If you’re going to cut the meat up yourself, see “Cutting the Meat Up” below. Otherwise proceed to “Let’s Make Carnitas!!!” below.


Cutting the Meat Up:

This is easy stuff…pretend you have a block of cheese instead of a block of meat. Get your largest and sharpest carving knife. Cut the meat against the grain into 3-4 slices – about 2 inches thick each.

Now cut each slice cut into 2-inch cubes. The idea here is to maximize surface area.

Cut off big pieces of fat. (“Big pieces” are anything where the fat is a third or more of the individual cube.) Throw the excess fat away. You’re done!


Let’s Make Carnitas!!!

Step 1:

• Rinse the meat under cold water and pat dry. Place it into your best pot.

Step 2:

• WASH YOUR HANDS.

Step 3:

• Add (2) cups of water, (1½) cups of orange juice, (10) crushed garlic cloves, (2) teaspoons of salt, (1) teaspoon of black pepper, (1) teaspoon of cumin, (2) bay leaves and (1) teaspoon of orange peel into the pot. There should now be enough liquid in the pot to mostly cover the meat. If this is not the case, add enough water or orange juice to mostly cover. When you’re done, it should look something like this:



Step 4:

• Stir everything. On Medium-High, bring the uncovered contents of your pot to a boil. This will take about 15 minutes. It’ll look something like this when it’s boiling:




Step 5:

• Once the contents are boiling, bring the heat down to “Low-Medium” and cover the pot with a tightly-fitting lid for 1 hour and 45 minutes. During this time you can wash the dishes, have a couple of drinks and if necessary, add more water by ¼ cupfuls at a time to keep the meat submerged under liquid.

Step 6:

• Remove the lid and get the bay leaves out of the pot with a slotted spoon. Throw them out: they did their job well.

Step 7:

• Bring the heat to “High” and get the mixture boiling to get half the liquid boiled off. This will take about 15-20 minutes.

Step 8:

• Once the liquid has been reduced by half, pour 1/3 of a cup of brandy directly into the pot. Keep the mixture boiling, uncovered until most of the liquid is gone and the meat starts to brown. Stir gently and frequently enough to not let the meat burn (don’t be afraid to let it brown, though). You will notice that you will be unable to leave the kitchen now anyway because it smells too damn good! By the time you’re done you will have something that looks like this:




Step 9:

“Step 9” is really up to you. You can:
a) Heat up some hard or soft corn tortillas and build your own tacos alongside some pico di gallo, sour cream and guacamole.
b) Make and serve burritos with rice and beans.
c) Or you can serve it as my personal favorite—a platter with a simple lime garnish (with rice and beans and pico di gallo and sour cream!):



This is a great recipe for a home-style dinner for two people on a cold night. If you’re a fan of hot sauce, Tapatio is the way with this one. If you’re really daring, I suggest La Morena pickled jalapenos (they are actually not THAT hot). Here’s what the labels of both look like.






Leftovers can make a fantastic breakfast when paired with eggs in the morning or a nice homemade lunch that you can bring to work—it microwaves incredibly well as long as you stir it about a minute into the nuking.

I hope you enjoy!