Carnitas

Recent trips to Mucho Burrito (I can’t recommend you go there for decent fast food since Luke and I agreed no reviews of chain restaurants) have left me with a hankering for some Mexican food. Unfortunately, the choices in Ottawa are pretty slim these days.

My first introduction to Mexican food was at Mexi’s on Bank Street. I can still remember the experience. Unfortunately, the the food quality at Mexi’s has really dropped since they started opening numerous locations. Feleena’s never seems to match expectations for me. There was a good little place in the Market but it closed a while ago.

So, without much in the way of “eat-out” options, I decided some home cooking was in order. I was in the mood for something I don’t have often, so I decided to make Carnitas. A search through assorted cookbooks turned up no recipes. A web search turned up a few interesting ones, but nothing jumped up and said cook me. So I rolled my own

1 kg pork roast, cut into 3 x 1 x 1½” strips
Kosher salt
1½ tsp olive oil
1½ tsp garlic flavoured oil

355ml beef broth
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp Mexican oregano
1 tbsp cilantro

1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 small onion, sliced into medium rings

Pre-heat oven to 350.

In a bowl, combine the broth, garlic, and spices.

Cut the pork roast into 3 x 1 x 1½” strips. Rub with the kosher salt.

Heat the oil in an oven proof frypan (cast iron works best). Fry the pork slices in the oil, browning each side well. If you have too much meat for one layer, cook the pork in batches. Remove the meat and drain any oil and fat from the pan. Pour the broth mixture into the pan to deglaze (you want the tasty bits of meat). Return the meat to the pan. Add the onion, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf. Top up the pan so that the liquid is just at the top of the pieces of pork.

Put the frypan in the oven and Bake for 3 hours, turning the meat every 30 – 60 minutes. As you turn the meat, top up the liquid so that it the pork is ¾ submerged.

After 2 hours don’t top up the liquid, let it reduce instead. The pork is done when there is a small bit of liquid left in the pan. The pork should be tender at this point, falling apart with a simple tug with a fork. For me, this was around 3 hours.

Remove from the oven and cut into bite sized chunks. Be sure to coat the pork with the remains of the broth in the pan.

We had the carnitas with black beans, corn, and a peach jalepeno salsa that Fay made. No cutlery, we used tortillas to pick up the food.

Would I make it again? Oh yes. The pork was moist and full of flavour. The combination of regular chili and ancho chili made for a nice smokey heat. I also think using water to top up the liquid instead of more beef broth made sure that the pork flavour was not overwhelmed. Next time I prepare this I think I would throw in an extra onion. But that is about the only change I would make.