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"For this dish, you can slow-cook it for 3 hours on the stove or in the oven," Rach says. "And if you prepare it with pork tenderloin, you can make it in just half that time—90 minutes—but the cut of meat will cost more."
She recommends using a lager beer that's light in color and flavor for this recipe, such as Modelo Especial.
For a complete taco night feast, check out Rach's Mexican-Style Red Rice and Tex-Mex Black Beans.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pork butt or large pork tenderloins
- 1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder or chili powder blend (a scant palmful)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin (a scant palmful)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander (a scant palmful)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano (a scant palmful)
- Kosher salt and coarse black pepper
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil, such as safflower or canola
- 1 large orange
- 2 limes
- ½ can lager beer that's light in color and flavor (such as Modelo Especial)
- 1 bulb garlic, peeled and crushed
- 2 jalapeño peppers, sliced
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- 5 to 6 large, fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed
- 1 small onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 poblano peppers, or 2 cups defrosted frozen Hatch chilies
- 2 cloves garlic in jackets
- ½ cup fresh cilantro or flat parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh
- 1 teaspoon light agave or light in flavor and color honey
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Juice of 1 lime
- Charred soft corn or flour tortillas (heat over open flame or in hot cast-iron or stainless skillet)
- 3 to 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- Fresh cilantro tops
- Chopped white or sweet or red onions, tossed with lime, salt and pepper
- Pickled sliced jalapeño peppers
Yield
Preparation
For the carnitas, cut pork into large pieces, 2½- to 3-inch chunks. Combine the spices. Season the meat liberally with salt and pepper and spice blend. Heat oil, 3 turns of the pan, in large Dutch oven and brown the meat (lightly brown to medium brown in color) evenly all over, then add the juice of 1 large orange, 2 limes, half a can of beer, garlic and peppers. Cover and cook butt/shoulder for 2 hours or tenderloins for 1 hour over low simmer. Uncover and cook 1 hour more for butt/shoulder and 30 minutes for tenderloins. Shred pork. Strain or whisk sauce (depending on how smooth you prefer it to be), toss pork in sauce, preheat broiler, and place pork on parchment- or foil-lined rimmed baking sheet then broil in mid oven to crisp the meat a bit on top and at edges. Serve in large shallow dish with wedges of lime.
For the salsa, preheat broiler to high with rack 1 above center. Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange the tomatillos, onion, poblanos, and garlic on top. Char and blister peppers and tomatillos, then turn, the total time under broiler will be 10 to 12 minutes. Place in bowl, cover, cool, peel, stem and seed peppers. Peel garlic. Add all ingredients to food processor and pulse process into thick salsa, then transfer to a bowl.
To serve, wrap the hot, soft tortillas in a cloth napkin to keep warm and serve carnitas and salsa with sliced radishes, cilantro tops, onions and pickled jalapeños.
