Beautifully spiced slow-cooked shredded pork, fried up to crisp perfection and served up in soft tacos with the most amazing cooking liqueur for dipping!
2-2.25 kg (4.4 lbs - 5 lbs) rolled, boneless, shoulder of pork
Add the onion and garlic around the sides of the pork, then pour over the orange juice. It doesn’t seem like a lot of liquid, but the pork will release liquid as it’s cooking.
1 medium onion, 5 cloves garlic, 120 ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice
Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, chilli flakes, oregano, and cumin.
Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a chopping board (I use two sets of tongs).
Shred the pork into pieces, discarding any large chunks of fat.
To fry the carnitas:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, over a medium-high heat.
2 tbsp oil
Add the shredded pork (use tongs and try to leave as much liquid behind as possible).
Fry for 8-10 minutes, moving around the pan occasionally, until you get some nice crispy bits (don’t move it around too much or it won’t crisp).
Once the pork is browned and crispy, add in a good ladleful (about 240ml/1 cup) of pork cooking juices to the pan and allow it to bubble for a few minutes. This adds extra flavour and juiciness to the pork.
Turn off the heat and serve the pork alongside a jug of the remaining liquid from the slow cooker for drizzling. Go easy at first, as it’s quite salty.
If you’re making carnitas tacos, then load them up with the pork, coriander (cilantro), avocado, and chopped onion (see notes for more topping ideas).
Cheese: Grated cheddar or crumbled feta. If you can get hold Cotija (a salty, crumbly Mexican cheese), that works really well, it’s almost impossible to find in the UK though.
Vegetables: Crunchy sliced lettuce – such as romaine or baby gem, chopped spring onions (scallions), finely diced cucumber, chopped cherry tomatoes
Chillies/pickles: sliced fresh or pickled jalapenos, sliced gherkin or cornichons, pickled red onion slices. Kimchi actually works really well too.
Making ahead
Make the pork carnitas ahead by cooking the pork in the slow cooker, then shredding.
Cool quickly and place the shredded meat in a sealed container and the leftover cooking juices in a separate sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
When ready to heat up, fry the shredded carnitas in 2 tablespoons of oil to heat through - until piping hot (and lovely and crispy).
Warm the cooking liqueur through in a pan or in the microwave and spoon some or all of it onto the carnitas once they crisped up.
Freezing
Make the pork carnitas ahead by cooking the pork in the slow cooker, then shredding.
Cool quickly and freeze the shredded meat in a sealed container and the leftover cooking juices in a separate sealed container.
Defrost overnight at room temperature, then fry the shredded carnitas in 2 tablespoons of oil to heat through - until piping hot (and lovely and crispy).
Warm the cooking liqueur through in a pan or in the microwave and spoon some or all of it onto the carnitas once they crisped up.
Don’t throw away the pork skin! Use it for pork crackling.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F (fan).
Lay the skin on a chopping board and score skin-side of the pork skin in a criss-cross/diamond pattern.
Sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of table salt, then rub it into the skin.
Transfer the skin to a rimmed baking tray (you can place on a rack on top of the baking tray if you like, but I generally don’t, as it means more washing up!)
Place in the oven and roast for 40-50 minute, until the skin is golden brown and has little bubbles all over (the bubbly bits are where it is most crispy)
Carefully remove from the oven (there will be a lot of hot liquid fat in the tray – you can save this and use for roasting potatoes).
Use a set of tongs to move the skin to a chopping board.
Carefully chop into bite-size pieces and serve.
If not serving right away, then cool the crackling pieces, transfer to a container and place a lid on. Place in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven on a baking tray at 200C/400F (fan) for 8-10 minutes, until re-crisped and piping hot.Recipe source: This recipe is based on Nagi’s version from RecipeTin Eats (I think her recipe came from another source too). I make a small few changes in ingredients and cooking method.Nutritional information is approximate, per filled taco (this recipes makes 12), including the soft tortilla, coriander (cilantro), avocado and onion.
The approximate calorie content of the pork carnitas meat after frying in oil is 3000 calories ALTOGETHER.
Before frying (without the oil) it is approximately 2750 calories altogether.