Carnitas
What are carnitas? Done right, carnitas are ultra-rich, soft pork meat with slightly crisp edges. Pork butt is the perfect meat for this recipe but the picnic works great too. This is a very simple recipe for an outstanding, authentic dish.
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
- Large dutch oven
Ingredients
- 4 lb Boneless Boston Butt cut into 2-4 inch pieces
- 1.5 tbs kosher salt
- 2 lbs leaf lard cut into 8 pieces
- onion for tacos
- cilantro for tacos
- limes cut into wedges
- 24 corn tortillas
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Sprinkle pork with 1½ tablespoons salt. Melt lard in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add pork, increase heat to medium-high, and cook until bubbling vigorously all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, until pork is tender, about 2½ hours.
- Remove pot from oven and let stand for 30 minutes. Using spider skimmer or tongs, transfer pork to carving board; chop into bite-size pieces. Transfer pork to bowl and season with salt to taste. Divide pork among warm tortillas and garnish with onion and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Notes
The lard can be reused several time. Keep stored in the fridge.