It’s been awhile. It’s been quite awhile. I could blame it on a number of things but suffice to say that I’m back.
You may remember that we recently moved from southern California to northern Virginia. Unsurprisingly, northern Virginia isn’t exactly a mecca for Mexican food. My personal Mexican food of choice is carnitas and, unfortunately, the closest I’ve found so far in our new home is at Chipotle.
So I decided to make my own. These aren’t the more common carnitas found at taco stands around L.A. These aren’t cooked for the same length of time so they don’t easily get the shredded texture of taqueria carnitas.
Instead, they are rather quickly simmered in milk before cooking the liquid off. They’re reminiscent of an Italian recipe where pork is slowly cooked with milk.
They are quite flavorful; almost intense, as Angela described it, but at the same time mild. The salsa (in the pictures) almost overpowered the flavor of the carnitas and I omitted it for the remainder of my tacos. The only downside for me was that the texture was different than I was expecting. Something that shreds more easily would work better on tacos.
These cook quickly. Quick enough for a week night. They go well with homemade tortilla chips and salsa. The leftovers work well in quesadillas.
Carnitas Caseras (Home Cooked Carnitas)
Adapted from The Art of Mexican Cooking
4 tbsp lard or vegetable oil
3 lbs. bone-in pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 medium red onion, sliced
salt
4 sprigs of fresh marjoram
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns, crushed
1 orange, cut into eights
1 cup milk
- Dry the pork with paper towels and season with salt.
- Heat the lard in a wide, heavy pan until hot. Add the pork and fry until lightly golden, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes.
- Add the onions and cook until the meat is well browned, about 8 minutes more.
- Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until the meat is cooked through and tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid, and increase the heat, cooking until all the liquid has been absorbed (there will still be a lot of fat remaining).
- Remove the meat from the pot and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Slice the meat into small pieces and serve with corn tortillas.
Serves 6 to 8.
two yolks 