Pork carnitas fried, shredded or roasted! I love them either way. I am a sucker for a good price on a nice pork shoulder/butt. Lucky for my better half, I have limited freezer space, so just one pork shoulder at a time. During the summer, I prefer to smoke the pork low and slow for my favorite Mexican inspired recipes. But, during the winter, I go the old fashioned way I learned from Mom and cook it low and slow on the stove top. I typically will slice 2 pounds of meat off, using the boneless side for soups and stews, like chile verde or chile colorado. The side with the bone, I like to cook in water with a few aromatics. You will have the most flavorful pork stock in the end. For today’s post, I share with you a few tasty ideas for this flavorful shredded pork carnitas. The first dish was inspired by a picture I saw while flying home from Texas recently. It was this beautiful collage of dishes from Puebla, Mexico and the one that caught my eye was a dish called “Chanclas Poblanas”.
Shredded Pork Carnitas
This is a bone-on pork roast, so take that in to account when you are trying to calculate servings. The bone give it more flavor when cooked.
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Servings: 6 Servings
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 pounds pork shoulder bone in
- 1 white onion sliced in half
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 1 carrot cut in half
- 1 stalk celery cut in half
- small handful of cilantro
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 jalapeno or 2 serranos split in half
- water
- salt to taste
- *2 packets Goya jamon ham seasoning or 1 smoked ham hock. This is optional, but it does add some good flavors.
You will also need
- juice of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 orange
- 1/2 teaspoon chile de arbol powder or 2 chile de arbol crushed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- salt to taste.
- 2-3 tablespoons pork manteca lard or bacon grease
Instructions
Directions
- Add pork and remaining ingredients to a large pot, cover with water. Season with salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking, mostly covered for 4 hours. Skim foam off the top as needed and turn as needed. After liquid reduces halfway through cooking time, add enough water to just cover pork and continue cooking.
- Remove pork from hot stock. Let cool slightly and then remove the meat from the bone. Transfer to a storage container and cover with just enough pork stock to cover the meat. Let cool at room temperature. Skim the fat off the remaining pork stock. Strain out the solids and discard. Once cooled you can freeze the stock for future recipes.
- To finish shredded carnitas, add pork with stock to pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring as needed until liquid reduces by 3/4. Add juice of 1 lemon, 1 orange, chile de arbol powder, garlic powder, pepper and salt to taste. Reduce until all the liquid has evaporated.
- Add 2 full tablespoons of manteca and cook on high heat to crisp and brown the pork. Shred with two forks if needed.
Notes
For less stress, cook the pork in your slow cooker over night with plenty of water. Follow instructions as listed to finish the carnitas.
Tried this recipe?Mention @pinaenlacocina or tag #pinaenlacocina!
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