Real Carnitas part 2

[Fire_Mgmt]

^^^couldnt agree more. The first carnitas post was one of the best I've seen on this site. I've bookmarked that thread just so I could show my friends what kind of cookout I'd like to do someday.

[Smoothsmoke]

si se puede!

[Mattmo]

Come on already! ha ha! Just kidding. I just read the "real" carnitas where you showed everything except the living pig and THOROUGHLY enjoyed it. I am really looking forward to this. I have a bunch of lard and a bunch of hog in the freezer and want to try this.....

[chicagokp]

Originally Posted by Pugi

Maybe later you can point out differences between mine and yours so we can all learn?

You bet. Mine are simple. Pork butt in a cast iron Dutch. Simmered in water and salt till fork tender and then I let the water steam out. Then I let the remainder fry up in some lard and the fat that renders out.

Here are my lunch leftovers. Seasoned up with cilantro, squeeze of lime and some Valentina picante hot sauce.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357320683.648593.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357320701.350949.jpg

These ended up more shredded that I wanted but the crispy bits are the best.

[Pugi]

Originally Posted by chicagokp

You bet. Mine are simple. Pork butt in a cast iron Dutch. Simmered in water and salt till fork tender and then I let the water steam out. Then I let the remainder fry up in some lard and the fat that renders out.

Here are my lunch leftovers. Seasoned up with cilantro, squeeze of lime and some Valentina picante hot sauce.

Attachment 74156

Attachment 74157

These ended up more shredded that I wanted but the crispy bits are the best.

They look good! I've never heard of cooking it in water before. Probably a little more healthy. I'm headed to the store tonight and will cook it tomorrow. I'll post pics as time allows.

[chicagokp]

I just braise in salt water before I finish it in lard.

[Pugi]

I really wanted to cook this outside in the Brethren way but I have cold to the bone for the last couple weeks and with temps like this well, I made an executive decision, indoors and warm.

[Pugi]

One thing I have learned that Brethren are not only meat experts but chili experts and bean experts. Today I am making refried beans from scratch to go with carnitas so I thought I would show the process. The pinto beans were soaked in water over night then rinsed well with fresh water. To those I added about 10 cloves of garlic and a jumbo onion chopped into large pieces. Garlic and onion are for flavor and will be removed before smashing. This is all thrown into crock pot and cooked until beans are well done, almost overdone.

[Pugi]

Now on to the main course. 2 of the 3 ingredients, lard and pork. The lard is bought at store and is usually white in color. This is some lard that we had left over from the real carnitas original thread. That is why it has a tan color when in solid form.

[Pugi]

This part I like to do on the kettle but because of freezing cold temps I am doing inside. Normally I would seer over hot coals, today in a very hot pan with a little lard. Try and seer as much as possible by turning. Notice I'm not afraid to get a little char on it. This step replaces the one in original thread that we heated the lard up to smoking point and then seered each hunk of meat in hot lard.

[Pugi]

These are boneless pork shoulders and the total weight was about 11 pounds.

[Pugi]

Melting the lard in turkey fryer pot on stove. Jeez I need to get a nice 4 gallon pot. It was just to much for the 2 gallon.

[Pugi]

The pork placed into lard, you want the lard to have a slow bubble and no more, we are not deep frying French fries here. Slow, lazy bubbles. The foam is from liquids coming out of pork and will soon stop after excess is gone. The pic is deceiving, the meat is almost covered by lard.

[RevZiLLa]

Keep it coming, Pugi!

[coyotero]

Vamos Pugi, si se puede.

JV