Carnitas (Authentic)

babygirl65's Note:

Carnitas is a very famous Mexican dish. It does involve a lot of cooking time, so I make it when I have time. Serve with fresh homemade corn tortillas, guacamole, cheese and pico de gallo with cilantro.....yum.

• Total Time: 5 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder
• 2 (16 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 5 -6 garlic cloves , grounded in a mortar
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed , ground in a mortar
• 2 onions , quartered
• ½ bunch cilantro

Directions:

1. Cut pork meat into chunks and discard the big pieces of fat. (I leave some fat as it adds flavor).
2. Add pork chunks, broth, garlic*, comino*, onion* and cilantro* to a dutch oven. If necessary, add water so that the meat is covered.
3. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3 -4 hours or until meat is very soft and pulls apart easily. (Be careful not to shred meat, needs to stay in chunks).
4. Remove the meat carefully from pot and place in a roasting pan. Discard onion and broth. Break the meat apart into smaller chunks (don't shred, it needs to stay in chunks).
5. Bake in the oven at 450°F for about 20 minutes or until the meat is brown and crispy.
6. Heat (or make homemade) corn tortillas, serve with desired toppings.
7. (You may have to adjust garlic, comino, onion and cilantro to your liking, everyone's taste is different. You can add salt and pepper if you like too, I use Nature's seasonings, personal preference).

Reviews

[Corn Maiden]

This turned out great! On Diners, Drive-ins and Dives a Mexican restaurant made carnitas with evaporated milk. So I used 2 cans of evaporated mik seasoned with chicken bouillon instead of the broth. I put everything in the crock-pot for 9 hours, then I crisped it up in the oven according to the recipe. I drained the broth and reduced it down to a thick gravy, brushed it on the browned meat and let it bake a little longer. It was crispy on the outside and very tender on the inside. Next time I will add a jalapeno pepper and touch of allspice. We had three different meals during the week. One with rice, beans, flour tortillas and fresh salsa. We had carnitas soft tacos and also carintas burritos served enchilada style. Will be making this again!

[No Stress Chef]

Great! Delicious! After cooking the pork chunks in the broth, I took 1 cup of the broth, reduced it by 1/2 in a saucepan, and then combined it with the pork before placing it in the oven. As it baked in the hot oven, the flavors from the broth permeated the meat, adding an extra layer of deliciousness.

[MarkB in Palm Desert]

outstanding and delicious!