La Calle's Carnitas Street Tacos
This is very tender pork roasted for hours in a traditional steel "Cazo". With a perfect combination of shoulder and skin on the bone.
Ingredients
- ½ large white onion, quartered
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 Tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp chicken base (consommé)
- 0.5 oz chiles de arbol
- 5 oz evaporated milk
- 5 oz filtered water
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- ¾ lb pork skins
- 1 lb lard
- 3 lb bone-in pork butt (also called pork shoulder)
- 1 12 oz bottle of Modelo Negra
- 1 12 oz bottle of Mexican coke
- 5 bay leaves
Instructions
- Cut the onion in four parts and set aside.
- Blend the garlic, salt, consommé, chiles, milk, water, orange juice, lime juice and set aside.
- Tie the skin in rolls (two knots per roll, one knot at each end) to have 5 rolls of 2 pounds each.
- Heat the lard in the carnitas pot to 400℉ (lard cannot be reused).
- Cut the pork butt (shoulder) into large chunks, about 2 to 3 pounds per chunk. Do not remove the bone (cut each ball into four pieces).
- Add the meat to the lard a little at a time. Move the meat into the lard as you seal the meat evenly (lightly brown on the outside). Make sure it is not too browned.
- Once the meat is seared, add the previously ground mixture, the beer, the coca cola, the quartered onion, and the bay leaves.
- Lower the heat immediately to a simmer.
- Move the meat constantly with the shovel, trying not to burn the meat.
- Cook for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
- About 40 minutes before the end of cooking, add the pork skins and let them cook, keeping the flame medium-low and stirring.
- When the flame is turned off, transfer the carnitas to a 22-quart plastic container and in another 22-quart plastic container the skin and lard in the lard pan (it is important to immediately remove the meat and skin from the fat so that they do not absorb it).
- While the carnitas drain the excess fat, cut the skin into ¾ inch squares.
- Cut the carnitas into 1-inch x 1-inch pieces with a knife. DO NOT SHRED CARNITAS BY HAND.
- Store the carnitas in sealing bags with approximately 2.5 pounds of meat, .5 pound of skin and 6 ounces of the buttered juice in which we cooked it.
- Immerse the bag immediately in the ice bucket to cool quickly, otherwise the product will spoil.
Notes
- Sealing is a very important step. It keeps the carnitas from drying out during cooking.
- Once the carnitas are sealed, you must cook them over VERY low heat and move them constantly. Otherwise they will burn.
- Remember to put 3 pounds of meat and half a pound of skin to keep the right mixture.
- The bag should be sealed and cooled immediately.
- You should NOT remove the fat that the carnitas may have. The fat is part of the flavor and yield of the recipe. Just remove the bone.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
