My new favorite food: Carnitas!

A friend was talking about carnitas awhile back, and they sounded amazing. I convinced Jeff that we should try them. They are oh so wonderful! I combined two recipes to come up with the one we love from Hot Sauce Blog and the Homesick Texan's blog. Jeff and I half this recipe, and we can get about 4 meals out of it. You'll need:

• One pork butt, about 7 pounds, cut into large chunks
• 1 onion, quartered
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Peel of 1 orange & the juice
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon coriander (we usually use whole so I can pick it out; I'm one of those freaks who thinks cilantro, and thus it's evil little seeds tastes like soap)
  
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• enough chicken broth to mostly cover the pork

Chuck everything in a large stock pot.

Here's a picture of everything chucked into the pot.

Bring to a boil, then decrease to a simmer. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours, uncovered. Add more chicken broth if needed, and occasionally move the meat around so it all gets exposed to the brothy goodness.

Here's how ours looked after simmering for a few hours, right before we cranked up the heat. And also Summit. Apparently the stove was nice and warm and a great place to nap. Did you know she can open the dishwasher now? That'll be a new post, soon.

About an hour before serving, crank the heat up to medium high. Allow the liquid to boil off. Stir the carnitas occasionally in the beginning. When the liquid is almost evaporated, start stirring the carnitas more often, scraping the bottom of the pan. This will keep the carnitas from sticking and will let more of the meat get wonderful and crispy as it fries in the fat that was rendered out of the pork. Near the end of cooking, I usually let it sit for a few minutes without scraping, then scrape like crazy, stir, and let it sit for a few minutes. The stirring and scraping should cause the pork to fall apart; if it's not, shred it.

Here are the carnitas after being crispified. See those lovely darker brown pieces? Those are the ones Jeff and I fight over.

Serve as burritos, tacos, quesadillas or whatever your preferred method of eating the deliciousness is!