Every year come Cinco de Mayo, I cannot wait to start cooking! This year I was fortunate enough to have my friend, Rosa, show me the ropes with some of her favorite everyday family recipes… Frijoles Refritos and Mexican Red Rice . Having a little get together planned, I have also been on the hunt for some inspired Mexican recipes to experiment with. This pork carnitas recipe has morphed from some of those amazing recipes that I stumbled upon during my search. Serve this tasty meat any way you like…I will be serving it on corn tortillas with a little onion, cilantro, avocado and homemade salsa! You can also enjoy it in burritos, quesadillas or chimichangas.
Simply add all of the ingredients straight into the dish.
The pork broils for about 10 minutes to get a nice crispy exterior. Shred or chop the pork to serve any way you like!
- 2-3 pounds pork butt or shoulder, excess fat trimmed
- 1 large orange, quartered with peel on
- ½ yellow onion, quartered
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed (I just smash them with the flat blade of a large kitchen knife)
- 1 cinnamon stick (break into 3 or 4 pieces...I use kitchen scissors)
- 1 tablespoons dry Mexican oregano
- 2 whole bay leaves
- Kosher salt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Begin by cutting the pork into approximately 3 inch chunks.
- Place pork into a large casserole dish, season with 1 teaspoon of salt. Pork should fit into the dish snugly without much space between chunks.
- Squeeze orange quarters over meat then place snugly in the dish along with the crushed garlic cloves, onion quarters, cinnamon stick, oregano (rub the oregano between your palms to break it up a little) and bay leaves.
- Pour the oil over the entire dish.
- Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. (this avoids spill over) Place dish and baking sheet into the oven. Cook until the pork is tender and falls apart easily, approximately 3-3½ hours.
- Carefully remove the orange peel, onion, garlic cinnamon stick and bay leaves and discard. Remove the chunks of meat with tongs and transfer to a large bowl. Shred the meat using two forks. I also like to chop the meat into smaller pieces depending on what I will be using it for. This works nicely for the tacos.
- Strain the remaining liquid from the dish into a bowl. Skim the fat and return the fat to the pork. Season the meat with salt and pepper to taste and combine thoroughly.
- At this point you can do one of two things: either refrigerate the meat for later use, or turn your oven on to broil with the top rack approximately 4 inches from the top. Spread the meat evenly on a foil lined baking sheet and place under the broiler. Watch carefully, and broil until the pork becomes crispy and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip the pork over and broil another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cover loosely to keep warm.
- Serve on warmed corn tortillas with sliced avocado, some diced onion, a little cilantro and salsa of your choice. Enjoy!
