Wondering what to do with leftover carnitas meat. Make delicious crispy homemade fries with gravy and cheese, loaded with carnitas meat, for this crazy good and fulfilling Carnitas Poutine. Top it off with diced tomatoes & onions. It’s a fantastic recipe for leftover Carnitas.

Homemade Fries

Prepare the Homemade Fries so that they are ready to go and deep-fry when putting together this dish.

These fries are super crunchy and just awesome. They take about 45 minutes to an hour to bake in the oven and then an additional 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to brine. You can, of course, use store-bought fries as well or use previously made homemade fries that are frozen. When making homemade fries, I usually make bulk batches and freeze for occasions like this. It’s a very good way to use up potatoes that would otherwise sit around and go soft.

If you do end up making the homemade fries. I apologize in advance because these will make an addict out of you, and if you’re already addicted, then you will be on these for good.

These fries really are exceptional and a must-try, and you can adjust the seasoning. Less salty use less salt. more salty use more salt. On the sweet side, add sugar. For some additional flavors, add broth powder. For umami, add MSG. For malty, use malt vinegar instead of white vinegar.

Gravy

For the gravy, I used pork broth with rendered pork fat, thickened with flour. I add a bit of barley flour on top of the flour used in the recipe. I find that barley flour adds a bit of taste that I like, but it doesn’t have any real thickening power.

Take some pork fat trimmings you might have saved and render the fat out. Let the fat cool before making the gravy. If you don’t have pork fat to render, then you can use lard or a mix of lard/oil and butter when making the gravy.

Heat the fat up over medium heat and add the flour. Mix well and cook for a few minutes or until brown. Add in the pork broth or any other broth you would like to use, a little at a time, and bring to a boil to thicken. Reduce the heat and allow it to cook for a few minutes. Keep warm while you deep-fry the french fries and warm the carnitas up.

Add more broth or use more flour mixed with equal amounts of broth to adjust the consistency the way you like.

Carnita Meat

I had Leftover Carnitas meat to use for this dish. The next time you make carnitas use the leftover meat for this recipe.

I like to use pork shoulder when they are on sale. This way there is plenty of leftovers for recipes like this one. You can make numerous recipes from one pork shoulder, and when they go on sale, it’s one of the cheapest meats to pick up that can be used cooked and then portioned for a variety of dishes. From one pork shoulder we’re talking Carnitas, Pizza, Poutine, Soups & Stews, Casseroles, Quesadillas, and probably leftover meat for other recipes.

Cheese Blend

I use a mixed cheese blend of high-moisture mozzarella cheese by Saputo mixed with provolone cheese at a ratio of 3:1. This is shredded and added to the hot fries before the gravy goes on. You can also use torn white cheddar cheese. Traditionally, though, cheese curds are used.

Mozzarella and Provolone 3 to 1

Old Fort White Cheddar Cheese

St Albert Cheese Curds