So we’ve been trying to do our best to use what we have in our freezer before restocking it with meat. So after eating everything except a whole coho salmon, we were left with a slab of pork shoulder I had picked up for a bbq. I had 15lbs of meat at the start, used half on the bbq, and another chunk trying out a Phillipino fried pork dish (which it looks like I apparently forgot to post). I am just not a fan of pork, except for the universally loved heaven food called bacon. Which makes coming up with ideas to cook with it a bit challenging.
On the other hand, I do love a good al pastor or pork carnitas. So when I was perusing a local Mexican supplies store and found small bricks of achiote / annato powder and a variety of peppers, I knew of a way to use up that pork. And to keep it low carb, I used lemon juice instead of orange, which I know affects the flavour, but didn’t want to add the sugars from oranges.
Note that out of the literal basket of spices I have, I am out of chili powder. So I used a couple of 2 large dried ancho chilies, gave them a quick roast off in a pan and ground them into powder.
While at the store I also picked up some Mexican cumin and some Mexican oregano. I wasn’t expecting much of a difference, but the cumin had quite a different aroma, almost like anise. The oregano was very much like a Sicilian oregano that is sold on the stalks, wonderfully pungent and very granular.
Oh, secondary note, I didn’t know how much pork I really had. I’d have to say at least 5lbs? Maybe 6? Alot anyways. Regardless, it made a boat load and we’ll have enough for supper tomorrow as well as some for the freezer.
To keep it low carb, I not only used lemon juice, but served it with lettuce wraps to put the pork into.
Pork Carnitas
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 3 tablespoon chili powder
- 3 teaspoons ground Mexican cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground Indian cumin
- 4 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
- 4 teaspoons salt or more, to taste
- 3 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspon Tajin
Other
- All purpose rub
- 5-6 pound pork shoulder excess fat trimmed and sliced into thick strips
- 4 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 fresh thai red chilies lightly charred (done when toasting the ancho chilies)
- 1 to asted ancho chili stem removed
Instructions
- Prepare the spice mix by combining the spice ingredients in a small bowl.
- Once the bulk of the fat has been trimmed from the shoulder, cut into thick strips, and give a very liberal dusting of an all-purpose rub.
- Place the meat, onion, garlic, whole ancho pepper, thai chilies in a crockpot / slow cooker, dust with half the spice, and toss to mix it all up.
- Sprinkle the rest of the spice mix on top and give another toss.
- Pour the juice in and set the crockpot to cook for 8 hours on low or 5 hours on high.
- Once complete, remove the meat from the pot and pour the juices into saucepot.
- Bring to a boil, and reduce, boiling for about 5-8 minutes.
- Shred the meat with 2 forks.
- Pour the sauce over the meat until its your desired wetness.
Notes
I gave everything a toss about half way through, just to make sure everything was evenly coated by the juices.
Adapted from Damn Delicious
PORK CARNITAS