Real Carnitas part 2

[chingador]

awesomeness all around. Nice work Pugi. Cannot wait to see the finished pics. Homemade refried beans are the business. I am hoping you are going to use lard for the refrieds too.

[Pugi]

Originally Posted by chingador

awesomeness all around. Nice work Pugi. Cannot wait to see the finished pics. Homemade refried beans are the business. I am hoping you are going to use lard for the refrieds too.

You know I will, being we are on the subject of lard, our practice is to freeze it once then toss it out. So you get 2 cooks of carnitas out of it. Make lard and cook, freeze, thaw and cook, toss it. Reasoning is it gets to many impurities in it for long term storage after that. We would rather be safe then dead.

[Pugi]

I wanted to show this pic, the lard now has a cream color to it. This is from all the liquids the meat is producing. As the cook progresses this will burn off and the lard will return to a amber color.

[chingador]

Looking good. I know I have said this on another thread, but in Houston, a couple of Mexican restaurants that are known for their carnitas do it a little different. The slow roast a whole shoulder, than cube it up and deep fry in lard. It is really good. I am sure it is nothing like what you are doing, but pork fried in lard in any form or fashion cannot be too bad.

[Pugi]

Originally Posted by chingador

Looking good. I know I have said this on another thread, but in Houston, a couple of Mexican restaurants that are known for their carnitas do it a little different. The slow roast a whole shoulder, than cube it up and deep fry in lard. It is really good. I am sure it is nothing like what you are doing, but pork fried in lard in any form or fashion cannot be too bad.

That sounds typical for restaurant style. They fry in lard to make it taste authentic. I've been to restaurants that serve so called carnitas that's never been touched by lard, I can tell by taste and its not a good taste. Authentic is the total cook in lard.

[chingador]

Yeah totally. I do like the restaurant style though. You get the crispy crust all around. I cringe when people throw pork in a crock pot with liquid mad call it carnitas. Kind of like what the burrito chain calls barbacoa. Not even close

[Pugi]

Dang I forgot to post earlier, the total cook time is about 3 to 4 hours depending how thick the meat is. Traditionally carnitas is served with pickled peppers not salsa. Today I'm serving with pickled peppers and a kicked up guacumole, its basically a guacumole and pico de gallo mix.

[Pugi]

The meat is fall apart ready. Time for the 3rd ingredient, salt. I put about 2 heaping tablespoons in glass and diluted with hot water. Then poured that into the bubbling lard. I'll give that about 15 minutes to get it in the meat and it will be complete. So total ingredients, meat, lard and salt.

[Pugi]

Here it is!!! I pulled it out of the lard. You can see some broke in half just getting it out. It is very tender. For comparison it will be easier to fall apart then pulled pork. I'll try and post plating pics later. Company is coming over for dinner and I have to shift my focus to them.

[coyotero]

Compa Pugi;

Te salieron ATM.

JV

[chriscw81]

Pugi, you should get a trophy for your carnitas threads!!!!

[Pugi]

Let's not forget the beans!!! Hot lard in pan and the little lady grating onion into it. We let the onions soften then added whole cooked pinto beans. Cooked it all together for 15 minutes then smashed by hand.

[Pugi]

Finally a plated pic.

[Pugi]

And my first bite. It turned out perfect. Everyone was pleased and had great compliments. All in all a wonderful meal. Plenty of left overs for later. I'm done for the night and will fill in the blanks tomorrow. Pugi

[goodscotch]

Being from California we don't have the opportunity to do a whole pig. I've always done the stove version. Question? I've always put sliced oranges in mine. Why don't you, if you don't mind me asking?