A Carnitas Tutorial - All Together Now

After having pressed you to make carnitas I thought I'd put the porcine particulars all in one place. Previously I had information all spread out in different posts across a span of several days and going back and forth between posts is annoying at best. There are recipes all over the place, and perhaps someday some test kitchen somewhere will try them all out and declare one "right" way to get carnitas on the table, but until then? Here is how easy it can be.

SIDEBAR: PROTEIN ANGST SOLVED
When I read in the comments section of some posts about how difficult it is for many people to source protein that meets a certain standard of animals being humanely raised and then slaughtered for market in a way that limits suffering, I am reminded every time of how very fortunate I am to live in Austin, home of Wheatsville Coop.

Wheatsville has two butchers on staff who really know their stuff. I spent quite a bit of time speaking with Bryan there the other day and expressed to him my gratitude for taking time to source a variety of proteins. This means I can purchase meat to eat that comes out of a system of ranching and processing running completely counter to the CAFO monsters our country's current agricultural policies allow. Bryan takes the time to locate and procure that protein so I can simply show up at the Wheatsville meat counter and have good choices to make. I want to underscore how important that is to me and how grateful I am to have Wheatsville as "my" store. If I want to have responsible producers out there I have to be willing to support them with my food dollars. Wheatsville, through the efforts of Bryan and others, makes that a real option for my family.

Carnitas, Agrodolce Style

Printable recipe here

Step 1: Get yourself 3-5 pounds of Niman Ranch pork roast. [If you aren't lucky enough to have a store that will get that for you, try ordering online.] I have been using bone-in shoulder roasts. I am under the impression if these were sliced a certain way it would produce blade chops. Sliced another way, it is just right for a braise.Step 2: Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Cut the meat into strips about 3 inches by 1 inch. Don't get too fussy about this part - you want uniform size so the meat will all be done at the same time. Leave the fat in there, you can take any fat solids that do not cook into the liquid out of the dish later when you shred the meat.Step 3: Salt and pepper the pork. Put the pork into a dutch oven with 1 cup of water, 2 bay leaves, the juice of one lime, the juice and skin of one orange (seeds removed), and a peeled halved onion. Bring this to a simmer stovetop, then cover and place into your preheated oven.Step 4: After an hour in the oven, turn the meat and continue cooking for one hour longer.Step 5: After the second hour, the pork should be tender, falling off the bone. Remove the meat to a bowl and take the bay leaves, orange, and onion from the pot. Bring the remaining liquid to a brisk boil until reduced to about one cup. At this point adjust the seasonings and add salt/pepper and other elements as you like to customize the liquid.After making the dish once with nothing added to the liquid, which produces a pork intense flavor we really liked, I did add a little heat in the form of chipotle sauce the second go-round.

Step 6: All that is left now is to shred the meat a bit, toss it in the reduced braising liquid, and broil it to crispy browned perfection.After a couple of tries, I got the best results by placing cooling racks on a foil lined cookie sheet. I then placed the drenched shredded meat atop the racks for the best crisping, and positioned the oven rack on the second rung down from the top before broiling at the highest heat setting. Do start checking the meat at 5 minutes. You want it browned, not overly charred.

Remove and serve with tortillas, and any/every other wonderful thing you think would make the best ever soft carnitas tacos.My go-to combination includes crema, arugula sprouts, cherokee purple tomatoes and caramelized onions.Other folks like their crema separately as a dip, after rolling a combination of cotija cheese, onions and meat.Once you get yours rolled, it matters not. What went inside and in what order is your little secret.There you have it. Carnitas for the conscientious omnivore. ¡Desfruta de tus Niman puerco, y'all!

Slightly pithed off

Long ago but not far at all away, we had carnitas for a combined Mother's Day/ChefSon Birthday dinner. When I had waxed rhapsodic in a phone call about this to LawSchoolGirl, I assured her I'd saved half the pork in the freezer to rerun the dish while she was home for the summer.

She got here about a week later. That would have been the third week in May. I took the pork out of the freezer three days ago. That was July 27th.

I'm not sure what took me so frickin' long to get around to carnitas again. Have you ever done that? "Meant to" make something that required defrosting an ingredient and somehow managed to let some inability to plan ahead enough to get that ingredient out of the freezer stall off the dish for way too long?

As is typical for me, I stuck close to the recipes I'd found the first go-round but after having one batch of carnitas deliciously under my belt (literally) I was emboldened to treat the various recipes more as guidelines for preparation than a "must-do-it-this-way".For instance, I only had a teensy onion on hand to start with but did have a leek I needed to use up. I had limes as it turned out, but no oranges. I had grapefruit and wanted to get that two or more hour simmering in the oven part of the process started before it got any later in the day. I had other things I wanted and needed to do, so a compromise was in the cards.

All by way of explaining why I used an organic grapefruit, peels and juice, rather than an orange and a lime when I made this second batch of carnitas. When I chopped the grapefruit in quarters prior to putting it into the pot I did entertain the question briefly as to whether or not the results of all that grapefruit rind in the braise liquid would get too tart after a couple of hours simmering in the oven.After waiting so long to fix carnitas however, and after the run-up I had given LSG about how Marvelous! Wonderful! Amazing! it was going to taste, I was in something of a self-imposed rush. I pushed that nagging doubt aside, dumped everything into the pot, and didn't give it another thought.

Note to self: In future, do not let a sense of rush keep you from paying attention to your instincts. Take time to think about what you know to be true about grapefruits and oranges and the relative tartness of their respective rinds.

Long story longer, the carnita meat cooked up to just the right "falling apart" stage as expected, only the cooking liquid was a leetle bit on the tart side compared to results with an orange and a lime. Interweb, I will admit it. I was pithed!I was sure it wasn't ruined. I took steps to adjust the seasonings in the basting liquid to overcome the slight bitterness from the grapefruit overdose, doused the pork as usual and ran it up under the broiler. Catastrophe averted. Rave reviews. Happy ending. Yay!

As a worldly two time carnita eater I have naturally developed my own version of THE "perfecto" carnita taco. While I offered crumbled Cotija at both carnita dinners I like mine "con crema" best. My idea of the universe's best carnita goes like so: Grilled flour tortilla, schmear of Mexican crema (or sour cream), sprinkle of arugula sprouts, second sprinkle of diced Purple Cherokee, layer of porky wondrousness, all topped with a liberal layer of caramelized onion slivers.

Roll into a firm delivery system and move from plate to mouth. Repeat as needed. Other diners greatly enjoyed Cotija on their tacos if I interpreted their mumbled responses correctly. That is the advantage of a "build your own" approach, everybody gets a customized experience. I don't have photos of the finished products because frankly, once you have seen anything wrapped in a tortilla you've seen everything wrapped in a tortilla.

This readily correctable near miss has me more sold than ever on carnitas as my go-to pork preparation. The additional step of dousing the shredded cooked pork with the reduced braising liquid then running it up under the broiler to crisp and cook on the coating, elevates it from "good" all the way to "ungodly delicious". I am dead certain this would make just as mean a sandwich filling or be equally delightful in a pita preparation. As long as the end of the story has that promise of porcine perfection traveling from outside to inside your happy, happy mouth.

In other words, you simply must not hesitate to make this dish for yourself, and if you are feeling generous, sure, involve a couple other people you want to treat. My only stipulation is that you use non-CAFO sourced pork because pigs are smart and I do not want it said I ever encouraged anybody to spend their money supporting a system that is cruel to animals, much less smart critters like pigs.

Other than paying attention to who raised and slaughtered your protein and how, which you should be doing as a matter of course now, right, (RIGHT??) do not let anything else, not hot weather-no-cooking-willies, defrost delay debilitation, or the lack of a proper citrus fruit get in between you and your own plate of carnitas. I won't!

¡Carnitas! Finally we EAT

Last night we celebrated and we had a lot to be happy about.  First and foremost we celebrated ChefSon's birthday. He turns mumblety on Mother's Day this year and I was thinking back to how far we have all come since that first Mother's Day cough! decades ago which was actually the day we first brought him home from the hospital.

We lived in Salt Lake City then and I remember sitting in the car, one hand on that precious car seat, looking around (when I could tear my eyes off this most beautiful baby in the universe) at people taking Mom/G'mom out to brunch etc. wondering how they could possibly be going about their normal lives in light of the earth shattering event we'd just been privy to. We'd just had our first child! Didn't they get it?

Fast forward a couple of weeks.  A hundred or so dirty diapers and sleepless nights later I began to understand a little better how yes, yes, maybe they did get it after all. Having a baby is that big and that little. 

The birth of a child absolutely changes the universe for the folks immediately involved and yet the rest of the world keeps right on turning. Which is why we need to be aware of who we are and how we live, all the time. We want to be keeping this world in respectable shape so when any Mommy brings another World's Most Special Baby into it, we can all be happy about our mutual prospects.Back to last night. We were also celebrating Cinco de Mayo:Swine Revenge. This was the night we prepared and ate Carnitas. 

Faithful readers, these were not just good - they were freaking aaaaaawesome. 

Porky goodness plus. All the recipe notes were right - you can make them day of, braise ahead and broil later, it matters not. Next go-round I might get adventuresome adding a few herbs or spices to the mix but maybe not. The Niman pork was just so very PORKY and that was why we were there. To celebrate the Swine Divine.

Gorgeous! 

I cranked my broiler up to the "smelt" setting, moved the rack to the next to the top position, and started checking the shredded, reduced braising sauce covered pork at about 3 minutes. It took about 4-5 minutes over all but I'd advise you to watch it carefully. This one step of the recipe deserves your full attention.

We had the carnitas Self-Assembly Style. I offered a choice of flour and corn tortillas (most of us double layered one inside the other), arugula, crumbled queso fresco, caramelized onions, guacamole and some chipotle salsa (a blended type) from the Wheatsville Deli folk.

I'd prepped about 2 pounds of pork butt for the 3 of us and we had enough left for maybe 1 more serving. Save-the-world impulses aside, it was hard to resist throwing a LOT of that pork into each taco, it tasted that good. Self conscious types loading their tacos in front of witnesses might pile them a little more lightly thereby stretching how far the meat would go. When it comes to Us eating in front of other family members? Fuggedaboudit.

There's no shortage of places to read up on carnitas recipe experiences. Here is a smattering gathered just for you - all of them from cooking/food blogs I believe deserve your ongoing attention:
I used a version of this for our carnitas....the recipe from Cooks Illustrated

Eggs on Sunday
The Bitten Word
Diana Kennedy Adaptation courtesy of the Homesick Texan
A Crockpot Version courtesy of Married with Dinner

Housekeeping:  The strawberry/loquat jam seems to have set.  Mostly.  There are typically a couple of jars in each batch that seem to take a little longer than the rest. Maybe the last group I put in the hot water bath are the ones not quite there- again I am mostly clueless as to the "whys" I can only share the "whats" with you.

We haven't finished all the loquat jam from last year yet.  I made three batches and was hesitant to give it away until we'd survived eating it and uniformly agreed it was "good".  We did, and it was, but by then we were well past most traditional gifting opps so I have two or three jars on the shelf.  Note that I am not complaining.  

I only made one batch of the strawberry-loquat jam. It is in small jars so it looks like more. I discovered mid-prep last year only the leetlest jars will be covered by the boiling water as recommended by the canning instructions when I use the stock pot I have on hand. So far I have resisted buying any special equipment for canning.  Again, after we have eaten some, survived that, and pronounced it "good" I will share.  

Today is the first day this week I have no major plans for canning or cooking or shopping or celebrating or yard work.  This has been a Big Busy Week for me which is to say it was like most other people's normally hectic lives.  

I have made a lot of alterations in the way I conduct my life over the past few years, beginning with retiring from the "works outside the home too many hours a week" milieu several years ago, followed by retiring from the "behaves as if she is single handedly responsible for the advancement of every cause she supports" milieu just this past year.  

It has been different and at times difficult to separate my sense of "who I am" from "what I do". I think I am mostly "there" now, wherever there is.  Honestly, I am not finding a lot of company on this Isle of Non-Doing.  It is quiet here however, and I appreciate that more and more.

I hope you are having a lovely week however that plays out in your life.  Do try the carnitas when you can.  My only regret is that I went so very many years without having carnitas in my repertoire.  

Do have a Happy Mother's Day however you wish that to play out.  If you do not have celebrating Mother's Day on your personal calendar, then I hope you will simply have a lovely day in your own way.  

And please, whether it takes the form of jam, or a hug and a smile, do remember to share, won't you?  Thanks.  That is all!

¡Puerco de Mayo! The End To Our Happy Tail (Porcine Saga Part 2)

Our hapless neighbor to the South has taken a lot of hits lately, most of them undeserved. Mexico has endured earthquakes, economic woes all their own, a loss of tourism dollars due to fears of drug gang violence, and now this whole swine flu mess has been splashed all over their zapatos.To my way of thinking the best possible response to all the mayhem is a Cinco de Mayo celebration, saluting Mexico's historical fortitude in resisting the last army invading the Americas from another continent. I intend to do just that by preparing carnitas and serving Micheladas alongside, in hopes this current viral invasion will be similarly overcome.

I started looking around for carnitas recipes and found plenty of them, each using a slightly different methodology but all of them reassuring, with forgiving ingredient lists and nods to other cooking techniques in the comments added, typically something along the lines of "don't worry - they'll still be delicious!".

I do so like it when I'm told not to worry by people who blog like they know what they are doing. The only type of recipe I am currently attracted to is of the "you can not mess this up" variety. A blogger friend calls this low fuckupability factor. I think that term pretty much sums up the only kind of cooking I'm interested in.

Back to our carnitas. I hodge-podged together a recipe, deciding to braise the pork in the oven ahead of time and then figure out how I will brown/crisp the meat when the time comes to serve the tacos.I must confess. It smelled so damned good at the end of this first hour I could barely resist the temptation to test drive a taco (or 4) ahead of time to, um, pig out on my own see what other ingredients I'd want to have on hand to make our Cinco de Mayo experience mas bueno. Right. That.

Here's what I did.

¡CARNITAS! 

2 pounds pork butt cut (roughly) into 3 inch by 1 inch strips
salt and pepper
1 small 1015 onion peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
juice of 1 lime
2 cups water
1 medium orange, halved and juiced, (seeds removed)

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Salt and pepper your pork strips and add the meat, onion, bay leaves, juices, water and orange halves to a Dutch oven.Bring this to a simmer on the stove top, then cover and place into the heated oven.

After an hour in the oven, turn the meat and continue cooking for one additional hour.Remove pork from the dutch oven (it should be tender and falling apart) and reserve in a bowl. Remove the bay leaves, onion and orange rinds from the liquid. On the stove top bring the liquid to a brisk boil and reduce to approximately 1 cup. (I plan to do this the day of our dinner.)

Check reduced liquid for seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour liquid over pork in bowl. Pull each strip of meat into two pieces using two forks and place on racks over a baking sheet. Broil meat well away from the heat source for several minutes (5-7) on each side until well browned and crisped on the exterior. Watch carefully to prevent charring.

Serve immediately in tortillas with additional elements to suit. 

To keep this as organic and local as is possible, I plan on using Tecolote Farms arugula, caramelized local organic 1015 onion strips from Wheatsville and queso fresco. 

I'll also offer Micheladas, a seasoned Mexican beer cocktail.  Or Negro Modelo plain, for those who like their beer untampered.  

I haven't quite decided what else to serve. It has been so toasty warm in the evenings here I want to keep it easy and light. Perhaps some guacamole.  Maybe local vendor Amy's Dulche de Leche ice cream for dinner. If I come up with something blogworthy, you all will be the next to know!I've posted ahead in case you were needing some Cinco de Mayo inspiration all your own. I'll come back with followup notes and photos of the finished product. I'll also be sure to share if anything comes up that didn't go according to plan. Meanwhile...

¡Olé, y'all! ¡Viva Niman Pork! ¡Viva Wheatsville! ¡Viva Bryan! ¡Viva Tecolote Farms! ¡Viva Micheladas! ¡Viva Mexico!

Puerco de Mayo Anyone? Snout What You Think (Porcine Saga Part 1)

Recently I watched a PBS Frontline special called Poisoned Waters which made many points about why our water is not safe to drink (or swim in or eat fish from).

One issue raised was how the practice of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) yields two problems. The first problem is a meat product that is questionably safe to eat (cruelty issues aside).

The second problem with CAFOs is the massive amount of toxic animal waste containing residues of whatever the animals were fed (or treated with) that is created. That byproduct, a staggering quantity of waste soup, mostly ends up in the watershed.

The conclusion reached is as clear as the contaminated water is cloudy. CAFO meat is bad. Bad for the animal, bad for the environment, bad for the people buying and eating the meat.

I was already anti-CAFO, I'll admit my bias. Earlier this year I read an opinion piece in the NYT about the overwhelming evidence linking the development of MRSA to CAFO pig farming practices. Their conclusion? CAFOs are a proven breeding ground for bacterial strains that pose a deadly threat to humans.

Today I read an article reporting there is a pig CAFO operating in the midst of the small town in Mexico where Patient Zero, a four year old boy, lives.

Although Smithfield and the other owners of the CAFO insist there is no connection between the proximity of the pig operation runoff and the viral outbreak, Mexican authorities are investigating, trying to pin down what exactly happened in La Gloria to ignite the flu.

I'll go ahead and hop to my own conclusion. Whatever the official report will read, in my mind there is little doubt that the presence of the CAFO and the virus moving from animals to humans is linked. CAFOs are dangerous for animals and humans alike.

What is a concerned carnivore to do? According to a 2008 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, although they comprise only about 5 percent of all US animal operations, CAFOs now produce more than 50 percent of our food animals and approximately 9,900 US CAFOs are currently in operation producing hogs, dairy cows, beef cows, broiler chickens, or laying hens.

How do I avoid supporting CAFOs? Do I have to give up meat?

This will come as sad news to some, but no, consumers do not have to give up meat. There are other choices. It is finding a store that offers those choices that may prove problematic.

There are all sorts of suppliers responsibly raising animals so I can safely buy and eat meat. Some are small local farmers like the Pedersons, others are national outfits like Niman, but what they all have in common is a commitment to humanely treating, raising, feeding, and slaughtering food animals so those of us who are confirmed carnivores can buy our meat and eat it too.

Is this meat produced this way more expensive to buy? You betcha. Is it safer and more nutritious? Yup. Is my peace of mind and health worth it? Yes. Every single penny. So where can I find this safer source of protein? Major chains often don't carry non-CAFO alternatives. In order to get the meat you deserve, you may have to do some hunting around.

I am lucky. Here in Austin there is Wheatsville Coop. Offering me consistent sources of transparent and responsibly obtained proteins like that from Niman Ranch and Pederson Family Farms is just one of many reasons I choose to spend my food dollars at the Wheatsville Co-op. There are loads of other reasons, such as their commitment to supporting local organic growers like Katie and David Pitrie's Tecolote Farms.

I've come to depend upon W'ville's friendly and accommodating staff. Such as the star of this two part saga - Bryan the Meat Guy.

I don't know Bryan's title at Wheatsville. If I knew it I would probably forget that too. For me Bryan will always be "the Meat Guy".Today I told Bryan I needed a 3-4 pound pork butt and he disappeared into that mysterious realm known as "the back" and re-emerged with just the thing.

He cheerfully special cut me a four pound Niman pork roast and then cut it in half again just because I needed to make sure I could handle it and/or get it into my Dutch oven. This Niman beauty of a roast is certified humane, bad-thing free, delicious, nutritious, and as far as I am concerned, the closest thing to guilt free protein there will ever be until and unless I start to grow and slaughter my own animals.

Bryan the Meat Guy saved the day. Having that Niman pork meant I could proceed full pig ahead with my Holiday Swine Flu Viral Invasion Revenge Meal as previously planned."Holiday?" you may well wonder. "Did you mean Mother's Day?". No, gentle readers. No I did not.

I got so annoyingly sidetracked by my porcine CAFO diatribe I nearly forgot to tell you. Before arriving at Mother's Day, we here in Texas have another Very Important Holiday to observe. Cinco de Mayo is on the horizon.

I had big plans to make Carnitas for Cinco. Without Bryan the Meat Guy I'd have been clean out of luck (and pork roast). Thanks to Bryan you can all stay tuned and I'll be back tomorrow with recipes and further details...