Beautifully spiced slow-cooked shredded pork, fried up to crisp perfection. You can use these pork carnitas in lots of ways, but I love to load them into soft tacos with onion and coriander (cilantro) and serve it up with a bowl of the most amazing cooking liqueur for dipping.
Free printable recipe is available on our site: [ Ссылка ]
Ingredients:
The pork:
2-2.25 kg (4.4lb-5lb) rolled, boneless, shoulder of pork. skin removed, but fat left on.
1 medium onion peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic peeled and minced
120 ml (½ cup) fresh orange juice this is approx. the juice from 2 oranges
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chilli flakes optional – leave out if you don’t like it spicy
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons cumin
For frying:
2 tablespoons oil
For the tacos:
12 soft flour tortillas warmed (I use medium sized – about the size of a side plate)
2 avocados des-toned and chopped into small chunks
1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro) roughly chopped/torn
1-2 mild onions peeled and diced
See more ideas for toppings in the notes section
Instructions:
1. Place the pork in the slow cooker, fat side up.
2. Add the onion and garlic around the sides of the pork, then pour over the orange juice. It doesn’t seem like a lot of liquid, but the pork will release liquid as it’s cooking.
3. Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, chilli flakes, oregano and cumin.
4. Cook on low for 9-10 hours or high for 7-8 hours.
5. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a chopping board (I use two sets of tongs).
Shred the pork into pieces, discarding any large chunks of fat.
To fry the carnitas:
6. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, over a medium-high heat.
7. Add the shredded pork (use tongs and try to leave as much liquid behind as possible).
Fry for 8-10 minutes, moving around the pan occasionally, until you get some nice crispy bits (don’t move it around too much or it won’t crisp).
8. Once the pork is browned and crispy, add in a good ladleful (about 240ml/1 cup) of pork cooking juices to the pan, and allow it to bubble for a few minutes. This adds extra flavour and juiceness to the pork.
9. Turn off the heat and serve the pork alongside a jug of the remaining liquid from the slow cooker for drizzling. Go easy at first, as it’s quite salty.
10. If you’re making carnitas tacos, then load them up with the pork, coriander (cilantro), avocado and chopped onion (see notes for more topping ideas).
Notes
Taco Holder:
[ Ссылка ] (it's an Amazon affiliate link) to the bamboo taco holder I use in the video.
More topping ideas:
Sauces: Salsa, guacamole, soured cream, sweet chilli sauce, hot pepper sauce, salsa verde, BBQ sauce
Cheese: Grated cheddar or crumbled feta. If you can get hold Cotija (a salty, crumbly Mexican cheese), that works really well, it’s almost impossible to find in the UK though.
Vegetables: Crunchy sliced lettuce – such as romaine or baby gem, chopped spring onions (scallions), finely diced cucumber, chopped cherry tomatoes
Chillies/pickles: sliced fresh or pickled jalapenos, sliced gherkin or cornichons, pickled red onion slices. Kimchi actually works really well too.
Don’t throw away the pork skin! Use it for pork crackling.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F (fan).
Lay the skin on a chopping board and score skin-side of the pork skin in a criss-cross/diamond pattern.
Sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of table salt, then rub it into the skin.
Transfer the skin to a rimmed baking tray (you can place on a rack on top of the baking tray if you like, but I generally don’t, as it means more washing up!)
Place in the oven and roast for 40-50 minute, until the skin is golden brown and has little bubbles all over (the bubbly bits are where it is most crispy)
Carefully remove from the oven (there will be a lot of hot liquid fat in the tray – you can save this and use for roasting potatoes).
Use a set of tongs to move the skin to a chopping board.
Carefully chop into bite-size pieces and serve.
If not serving right away, then cool the crackling pieces, transfer to a container and place a lid on. Place in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven on a baking tray at 200C/400F (fan) for 8-10 minutes, until re-crisped and piping hot.
#CookingShow #Recipe
