Carnitas - Straight Out Of America's Test Kitchen

Every Saturday at 4:00 pm, our local PBS station airs America's Test Kitchen. It is a 30 minute show full of great recipes, gadgets and interesting personalities - I love it and try to watch before I head off to work. A few weeks ago, they aired a show on making Carnitas which is braised or roasted pork in Mexico. This dish looked so mouth-watering good, I thought I would give it a try - and I am so happy that I did!

The meat fell apart and with the addition of a little fresh squeezed lime juice was a little taste of heaven!! I could not find pork butt at my grocery store, so I used pork shoulder and it turned out wonderfully. I also had Lydia make some fresh guacamole to go with the carnitas, because there is never a bad time to add guacamole.

This and many other recipes are available on the America's Test Kitchen website, so I encourage you to check them out and watch the show.

Here is the recipe for Carnitas - you can also watch the show (and many others) on their website!

Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas)

From the episode: Supper From South of the Border

Serves 6

We like serving carnitas spooned into tacos, but you can also use it as a filling for tamales, enchiladas, and burritos.

Ingredients

Pork

• 1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) boneless pork butt , fat cap trimmed to 1/8 inch thick, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 small onion , peeled and halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lime
• 2 cups water
• 1 medium orange , halved

Tortillas and Garnishes

• 18 (6-inch) corn tortillas , warmed
• Lime wedges
• Minced white or red onion
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Thinly sliced radishes
• Sour cream

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine pork, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, cumin, onion, bay leaves, oregano, lime juice, and water in large Dutch oven (liquid should just barely cover meat). Juice orange into medium bowl and remove any seeds (you should have about 1/3 cup juice). Add juice and spent orange halves to pot. Bring mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover pot and transfer to oven; cook until meat is soft and falls apart when prodded with fork, about 2 hours, flipping pieces of meat once during cooking.
• 2. Remove pot from oven and turn oven to broil. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to bowl; remove orange halves, onion, and bay leaves from cooking liquid and discard (do not skim fat from liquid). Place pot over high heat (use caution, as handles will be very hot) and simmer liquid, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy (heatsafe spatula should leave wide trail when dragged through glaze), 8 to 12 minutes. You should have about 1 cup reduced liquid.
• 3. Using 2 forks, pull each piece of pork in half. Fold in reduced liquid; season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread pork in even layer on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet or on broiler pan (meat should cover almost entire surface of rack or broiler pan). Place baking sheet on lower-middle rack and broil until top of meat is well browned (but not charred) and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, flip pieces of meat and continue to broil until top is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Serve immediately with warm tortillas and garnishes.