Carnitas Tacos

A variation on Brisket Tacos, but with pork instead of beef. The idea is the same: crockpot some meat, then make tacos all week with coleslaw and pickled onions.  I've been fiddling with a few recipes for carnitas. I basically end up with something like this:

Ingredients:

• 3 lb pork shoulder or butt
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• salt + pepper
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 jalepeno, chopped
• 1 orange, quartered
• 1 lime, quartered

Directions:

Rub oregano, cumin, coriander, and salt and pepper all over pork. Place pork in slow cooker. Top with onion, garlic, and jalapeno.  Squeeze the juice of the orange and the lime into the slow cooker and throw in the rind. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. When it's done, pull/shred with forks and discard extra fat as you go.

I've tried several variations on this recipe. Some call for liquid to cook it in, either beer or chicken broth.  But I found it comes out best without any liquid so that it just cooks in the fat as it renders. You can also try out other spices/flavors, such as chipotle (powder or canned chiles).

Most recently, when I sent Sam to the store for a 3 lb pork shoulder, he came back with 8 lbs! It fit in the crockpot (pic above) so I went ahead and made it all, but I didn't realize that I would need to add a lot more cooking time! I think it was done around midnight :), but we ate delicious carnitas all week long!

Also, to technically be carnitas, I think you need to brown the meat under the broiler after it's pulled but that's not our style.