Pork Carnitas, the stuff addictions are made of!

Pork Carnitas is this delectable, flavorful, melt in your mouth dish that is regularly served at the finer Mexican restaurants. If the Chef is worth his salt you will return again, and again to partake of the addictive stuff. El Tequileno is our local haunt, and after having to make many trips to get my fix, the owner told me the secret was orange juice. I searched until I found a recipe that included orange juice and found this one on About.com. I have heard that milk has the same tenderizing effect, but to my preference the citrus adds more flavor.




Carnitas
Adapted from About.com

3 lbs pork shoulder or butt
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3 cups orange juice
Broth to cover meat
Lard or oil for frying (Lard adds more flavor)
Salt to taste

In a large saucepan, brown the pork on both sides. Pour in the orange juice, then add broth to cover meat. Add in garlic, bay leaf and the onion. Bring the liquid to a boil then turn it down to a simmer for 3 hours.

Remove pork from liquid and pull apart into chunks, discard any excess fat or bones. You will be amazed at the tenderness of the meat! Lightly salt pork chunks. Heat lard in a large frying pan and fry the chunks of pork for 2-3 minutes until brown and crispy on the outside.

Serve Immediately.

We served ours with frijoles and Spanish rice, with homemade tortillas.

Saturday Rant

Seriously the past few weeks have been quite odd. I swear there has been full moon since mid July! Tomorrow needs to be an ordinary Sunday. Or I may just fly off the face of the earth in an ear-piercing tail-spin.

Today has been one of those days. I woke up hungry as the dickens (what does that mean anyway?). I had a Corned beef brisket in the fridge from Thursday. I promptly put it in the crock pot at 7 am, waking every living soul in our home. They were not happy but I was cooking! A few hours later I remembered we had also purchased a pig butt - I was craving Carnitas on Friday. Sooooooo, why not do it all?

I didn't have the Cabbage I needed for the Corned Beef, so I sent son #4 to the store to procure that for me. I began the Carnitas because I heard it was a really long drawn out process and I figured the CB&C would be ready by noon. Hubby came home from work and I realized I needed Cilantro for the Carnitas - so I sent son #3 to the store for that. After all, HE let the herb garden die while the rest of us were on family vacation, which he refused to attend. Teenagers are too cool for that or some such nonsense. Something is amiss with the Crock Pot, so here we are at 2pm and the CB&C still isn't done. Shoe leather.

I have to admit, the scents of both meals are tantalizing! Reminds me of when we owned the Diner. With less bullsh*t. Chef Tess Bakeresse has a really cool Crock Pot on her website, I'll have to check it out again and get a new one for myself. One cannot live without a Crock Pot, whether it be hot or cold outside/inside, it is an indispensable kitchen item.

So here I sit, waiting patiently for something to happen. My poor stomach thinks my throat has been slit and why the heck isn't anything coming down here? It smells the aromas of multitudes of yummies, but still nothing is happening. Oh yeah, I put the Sourdough on to rise this morning too, and it is just sitting there looking like a pale rendition of the 1960's BLOB. If something doesn't happen quick, I may just need to go to bed until morning and start anew. Am I the only one this happens to? Or just the only one pathetic enough to blog about it? Mothers with 5+ children should be exempt from this, no?

Oh well, tomorrow I will post photos of the end result of the two main dish Saturday, providing I can make the camera function for me. Gosh, it's good to be humbly and fumbly.