Nor Cal Carnitas Food

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Toss the pork with 2 teaspoons of salt. Transfer to a 6- to 7-quart Dutch oven or pot along with the oil, oregano, red pepper, cloves, garlic, bay leaves, lime juice, orange peel and onion. Cover with 4 to 5 cups of water. Bring to a high simmer, then reduce the heat to low, partially cover the pot and simmer gently, checking occasionally to give it a stir, until the pork is tender and just beginning to fall apart, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Fish out the bay leaves and orange peel. (The pork will not look super-attractive at this point but don't panic!)
• Remove the lid and increase the heat to medium-high. Simmer vigorously, stirring frequently, until all of the water has evaporated, leaving only the oil, and the pork has browned and begun to fry slightly at the bottom of the pot; continue to cook, scraping up the bottom of the pot frequently to release the fried bits, 30 to 40 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork from any remaining oil in the pot.
• Serve with tortillas and suggested toppings to make tacos.

CALAFIA CITRUS CARNITAS

Steps:

• For the rub: Place the chile powder, ginger powder, salt, cumin powder, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves in a food processor and process until the cinnamon sticks are completely pulverized into powder.
• For the carnitas: After you've made the carnitas rub, apply it to the 5 portioned pieces of pork shoulder. Refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat the convection oven to 350 degrees F.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed large braising pot and add the oil. Just before the oil reaches the smoking point, carefully add in the pork shoulder pieces, one piece at a time. Careful not to crowd the meat -- you want it to cook evenly brown all around and get a good caramelization on the meat, turning it as little as possible. If your braising pot is too small for all 5 pieces at once, do it in small batches, eventually transferring everything into another pot which will go into the oven.
• Once the pork is browned evenly, remove and set aside on a baking sheet.
• While the pan is still hot, add the onions into the same pan and sweat down. Then add in your garlic and bay leaves and cook for about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the beer, using a wooden spoon to scrape and release all the tasty browned bits of porky goodness. Reduce the beer by half, and then add in the orange juice. Bring to a boil, return the pork to the braising pot followed by the orange halves, cover the pot and place into the oven. Cook until the pork is tender and pulls apart easily, about 3 1/2 hours.
• Reserve the pork braising liquid which you can use to heat the pulled pork back up before you add the BBQ sauce to it.
• For the house-made ketchup: Mix the water and vinegar together in a large bowl.
• Mix the tomato paste with the honey, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cayenne and garlic powder in a large heavy-bottomed non-reactive saucepot. Mix in the liquids. Whisk everything together over medium heat on your stove top. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer 1 1/2 hours. Taste for salt balance, then strain through a fine mesh strainer. This is the first part of the Calafia BBQ sauce.
• For the Calafia hot sauce: Combine the tomato paste, water, tamarind paste, orange juice, pinot noir, vinegar, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, carrots, celery, onions habaneros, jalapenos, chipotles, ginger, brown sugar, coriander and cumin in a large heavy-bottomed non-reactive saucepot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
• Transfer the mixture to a high-powered blender and puree until ultra-smooth. Pass the hot sauce through a fine mesh strainer and taste for salt balance.
• To make the Calafia BBQ sauce you combine 2/3 of the Calafia house-made ketchup to 1/3 of the Calafia hot sauce. If you like your sauce spicier, you can always add more hot sauce to the ketchup.
• Once you've blended your sauces together well, introduce the sauce to the braised and pulled pork. Mix small amounts of pork to sauce until you've achieved the saucy desired delicious porky consistency.
• Now your pork is sauced and ready serve over steamed organic brown rice, sauteed organic baby spinach and roasted yams.

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Cut the pork into 4 pieces and place in a deep pot. Add the water to the pot, cover, and cook over medium-high heat until the meat is tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the pork from the pot and chop into bite-sized pieces.
• Warm the flour or corn tortillas. Spread some of the beans on each tortilla and top with some of the pork. Squeeze a wedge of lime over each tortilla. Add the cilantro, onion, salsa, and avocado.

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Cut the meat, with the fat, into 1-inch cubes. Barely cover the meat with water in a heavy wide pan. Add the salt and bring to a boil, uncovered. When the liquid reaches a boil, lower the heat, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. At this point, the meat should be cooked through but not falling apart.
• Lower the heat a little more and continue cooking the meat until all the fat has rendered out of it. Keep turning the meat until it is lightly browned all over. This entire process should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Remove the meat and set aside.
• Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat over medium low heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the garlic, reserved meat, and chile powder. Cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Serve with corn tortillas and Tropical Avocado Salsa.
• To make tropical salsa, combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl and stir well. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

CARNITAS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, combine pork, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and the oregano, and toss to evenly coat the meat in the spices. Squeeze orange juice all over the pork and add the juiced orange quarters to the pot. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon stick and bay leaf, and toss until well incorporated, nestling everything in an even layer. Drizzle oil evenly over the meat. Cover and braise in oven until pork is tender, about 2 1/2 hours, stirring once halfway through the cooking.
• Heat broiler to high, setting a rack 6 inches from the heat source. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and shred the meat. Strain juices from the pot through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, pressing on the solids; discard solids. Skim fat from top and reserve the juices.
• Broil pork until golden and crisp in spots, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer carnitas to serving plates and drizzle with some of the reserved juices. Serve warm with tortillas and toppings of choice.

JUICY, FLAVORFUL CARNITAS (NO LARD)

Steps:

• Trim large chunks of fat from the pork shoulder, but leave some fat on for flavor.
• Cut pork shoulder into large chunks. I usually cut them to about half the size of my fist.
• In a large pot, add the oil to the bottom of the pan and brown the pork. Add in the ground herbs while browning the pork.
• Once pork is browned, add the first bottle of beer. Using a wooden or silicone spoon, scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the delicious browned bits.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the pot(reserve half of the cilantro for later), cover and slow cook for 3-4 hours on low heat or until pork is tender and falling apart.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove pork from pot and place into a foil-lined, large baking pan. DO NOT discard the liquid stock.
• Turn the pot with the liquid stock to high heat to reduce the amount of liquid.
• Using two forks, shred the pork in the pan completely.
• Add in reserve cilantro.
• Pour enough of the liquid stock into the pan to halfway cover the pork. Return pot to heat. Place pork in oven.
• Check pork every 15 minutes or so, turning gently and adding liquid stock until all the stock has been used.
• Remove pork from oven when there is almost no liquid left in the pan.
• Serve and enjoy!