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Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas)

Source of Recipe

From "Cook's Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes"


Recipe Introduction

"We like serving carnitas spooned into small corn tortillas, taco-style, but it can also be used as a filling for tamales, enchiladas, and burritos. In addition to the traditional toppings—finely chopped white or red onion, fresh cilantro, thinly sliced radishes, sour cream, and lime wedges—we recommend serving the pork with guacamole. Pork butt roast is often labeled Boston butt in the supermarket."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 (3 ½- to 4-pound) boneless pork butt roast, fat trimmed to â…› inch, cut into 2-inch pieces
â—¦ 2 cups water
â—¦ 1 onion, peeled and halved
â—¦ 2 tablespoons lime juice
â—¦ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
â—¦ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
â—¦ 2 bay leaves
â—¦ Salt and pepper
â—¦ 1 orange, halved
â—¦ 18 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed


Recipe

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine pork, water, onion, lime juice, oregano, cumin, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper in Dutch oven (liquid should just barely cover meat). Juice orange into bowl and remove any seeds (you should have about â…“ cup juice). Add juice and spent orange halves to pot.

Bring mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover pot and transfer to oven; cook until meat is soft and falls apart when prodded with fork, about 2 hours, flipping pieces of meat once during cooking.

Remove pot from oven and heat broiler. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to bowl; discard onion, orange halves, and bay leaves from cooking liquid (do not skim fat from liquid). Carefully place pot over high heat (handles will be hot) and simmer liquid, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy (spatula should leave wide trail when dragged through glaze), 8 to 12 minutes. (You should have about 1 cup reduced liquid.)

Using two forks, pull each piece of pork in half. Fold in reduced liquid; season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread pork in even layer on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet or on broiler pan (meat should cover almost entire surface of rack or broiler pan). Place baking sheet on lower-middle rack and broil until top of meat is well browned (but not charred) and edges are slightly crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, flip pieces of meat and continue to broil until top is well browned and edges are slightly crispy, 5 to 8 minutes longer. (Finished pork can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.) Serve with tortillas.

Serves 6