Oven Carnitas for Taco Tuesday or perhaps a Sunday meal! While this recipe is a long one, requiring an overnight marinade and about 4-5 hours to cook. It is a simple, no-fuss recipe with everything done in the same pan. From seasoning the pork with adobo seasoning and other herbs & spices, slow cooking it to get fall-apart tender meat, reducing and crisping it up in fat, resting and chopping it to serve right from the tray for everyone to help themselves.Use more adobo seasoning to adjust the taste before serving. Use the strained leftover fat to brush corn tortillas with to fry them. Any remaining fat can be used to make refried beans to give them a boost in flavor.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork Butt or Shoulder - Deboned, skin removed, and the meat chopped into 3-4 inch chunks.
- 1/2 C Lard - or rendered pork fat or neutral oil
- 5 C Water
- 1 Large Onion
- 3 Cloves Garlic - Optional
- 3 3/4 tsp Adobo Seasoning - or 3/4 tsp per 1 lb (ca. 454 g) of meat
- 2 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, Oregano, Cumin, Coriander - or 1/2 tsp per 1 lb (ca. 454 g) of meat
Carnita Tacos
- As Desired Corn Tortillas - White or Yellow
- As Needed Rendered Fat - leftover from making the carnitas
- As Desired Salsa - Red Salsa, Poblano Salsa, Verde Salsa
- As Desired Pico de Gallo - or Mexican Relish
- As Desired Sour Cream or Crema
- As Desired Guacamole
- Optional Lime or Lemon Wedges
Instructions
- Chop & Season the Pork: Debone the pork and remove the skin. Chop the meat into chunks, about 3- to 4-inch chunks. You can either chop the skin into small pieces and include with the meat or leave it intact and place it on top of the meat to soften before chopping. Weigh just the meat to calculate how much seasoning to use. Combine the meat, lard, and measured-out seasoning (adobo seasoning, black pepper, oregano, cumin, and coriander) into the pan; mix well for even distribution. Add chopped onion and water to mix and place the fat cap on top or the fat cap chopped and included with the meat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, take the meat out to rest on the counter while preheating the oven to 300F, with the rack in the middle position.
- Slow Cook: Transfer to the oven and cook while covered for 3 hours at 300 F.
- Browning & Crisping: After 3 hours, remove the cover and raise the heat to 450F. Remove the fat cap with tongs to a cutting board and chop into small pieces. Add it back into the pan. Flip over the chunks of meat. Place the meat back into the oven, uncovered, to cook until all the water is evaporated and the meat is frying in the fat, up to 2 hours or until crisp and browned to your liking. Gently flip the pieces over about every 30 minutes for even browning.
- Drain the Fat & Shred: Remove from the oven and strain out the fat to save it for brushing corn tortillas before toasting them or save it for other recipes, like refried beans. Just tilt the pan a bit so the fat pools at one corner and use a spatula to push the fat into a bowl. Let the meat rest a bit before you crush or chop the meat to break it down and adjust the taste with more adobo seasoning and black pepper if needed.Serve the whole tray like this with tongs, some toasted corn tortillas, and plenty of toppings for everyone to help themselves.
- Carnitas Tacos: With the Carnitas already cooked and set aside. Use the fat drained out from the carnitas to brush the corn tortillas, stacking them on a plate. Soft carnitas tacos: With a few corn tortillas at a time, toast in the skillet over medium heat until good color. Repeat for each tortilla. Don't toast them until they are crispy; instead, toast them nicely but still pliable. Stuff the corn tortillas with meat, along with other toppings.Crispy carnitas tacos: Place 2 corn tortillas brushed with fat into the pan over medium heat, fat side down, and top with meat and toppings, optionally with cheese, and toast just a bit, but keep them still pliable. If you toast for too long, it will crisp and break when you try folding it over. Then fold over the corn tortillas and toast until crispy. Flip over to toast the other side until crispy and repeat.