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Yeah, so the snow storm turned out to be nothing. We got maybe 3 inches. It was all slushy snow. The second it hit the ground it turned into water. It was basically raining snow, if that makes any sense. If you could look outside my office window right now, it’ll seem as if yesterday never happened. There’s not a speck of snow on the ground nor is the ground even wet. Oh, D.C. weathermen. This depiction right here is pretty spot on with how the DC metro area deals with snow, haha
I haven’t acknowledged the fact that it’s already MARCH. Like, one month from April and one and a half months until our WEDDING. It came out of nowhere. I remember still trying to nail our wedding date last year and now I’m getting ready to become a Mrs.. Invitations were sent Tuesday – which, sending them made me realize I don’t really trust anyone other than myself. Well, no, that’s not entirely true. I don’t trust anyone at USPS. I gave them my entire box of invitations and I felt like I was giving my life away. I can only hope they make it to the recipients. I mean, they did lose my passport earlier this year. They aren’t really high on my trust scale right now. They need to redeem themselves. Anyway, so my bridal shower is actually this Sunday and I’m really excited. My future MIL and SIL are both flying up from Louisiana and Georgia to attend. My mom will be coming with us too, along with friends, and bridesmaids. It’ll be so fun to be in the same room again with the women I love.
Another thing I love almost entirely too much is meat. I’m sorry if there are vegetarians out there reading this but I just can’t help it. I have to profess my love to meat. Making these pork carnitas was so redeeming and worth it. My entire house smelled crazy good – it actually smelled to me like a Cuban restaurant or something. You HAVE to do all the steps for this pork or they just won’t be as flavorful. I love the crispy char on the outside. It really caramelizes the sugars of the sauce. It’s also so versatile once you finish making this. We made faux burrito bowls with the pork one night – just replace the chicken in this burrito bowl recipe with the pork you just made. Oh man, homemade Chipotle all up in my house…and all up in your house too if you make this pork!
Ohhh, if I could, I would’ve made some kinda pork carnitas sub with this. You get my point, though. There is so much you can do with this pork after you cook it all. You can add it to so many things and you can spice up a lot of dishes. Pork fried rice, anyone? Or tacos?
Go on, make this, go crazy over the smell of your house, and go even crazier tasting this unbelievable pork! Oh, and I must mention that this is REALLY moist and juicy pork that melts in your mouth so you won’t hate pork because of the dryness :)
Pork Carnitas
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds (1814 g) boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 2 leaves bay
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 2 cups (473 ml) water
- 1 medium orange, juiced and keep the spent halves
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle lower position and preheat oven to 300 °F (149 °C)
- Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven and bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.
- Once the mixture has come to a simmer, cover and place in oven and cook for 2 hours, or until the pork falls apart when prodded with a fork.
- Remove the pot from oven when done cooking, turn the oven to broil.
- Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. I recommend double layering.
- With a slotted spoon, scoop out the pork and place it on the foil lined pan. Discard everything in the Dutch oven except for the liquid.
- Place the Dutch oven on the stove over high heat and boil until liquid is thick and syrupy, about 20 minutes. I noticed that it won’t look thick and syrupy until you take it off the heat. So after 20 minutes, remove from heat, and you should see that your liquid has nicely thickened up.
- While the mixture is thickening, use two forks to shred the pork. When the mixture has finished thickening, place pork back into pot and gently toss pork in the liquid trying not to break up the pork even more.
- Place the pork back on the lined baking pan and place in the oven under the broiler for 5-8 minutes, then flip the pork and let brown on the other side for another 5-8 minutes. Watch it carefully so you don’t get burnt pork!
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Oh, yum! This looked so delicious that I had to make it right away. It cooked up perfectly and is just as tasty as it looks. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
So glad I found you blog. I can not wait to try this!
I was planning on cutting the recipe way down since I’m just a single person and last time I did a pork shoulder I ate pork for what felt like a month, froze it, and still had leftovers haha. Do you think I can sub in pork loin instead of shoulder?
look delicious I will make for the 4 of July
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! My husband has a favorite recipe, but it’s SO DANG SPICY..I can’t stand it. Haha! (I’m hoping he likes this one, too…since I can actually eat this one!) I ended up making this last night (for today’s dinner), and I kept picking at the pan when the pork came out of the broiler. So tasty!
Thank you for sharing :) These were good, but a bit salty for my taste buds. Next time I make this I will use 1/2 the amount of salt and add a touch of sweet to that sauce. Thanks again!
Hi Julie,
These carnitas look like heavenly. Question- do you put the pork directly under the broiler or keep the pan on the lower middle rack?
Keep the pan on the lower middle rack.
My son had his wisdom teeth out this morning, so I was stuck at home all day–perfect day to try this recipe and it is to die for!
Where do you get the recipes for these dishes
…? What do you mean? They’re in the blog post.
You never let me down – thanks for this; so yummy and versatile! My two roommates also loved it!