Carnitas
I don't always keep my word. It's a flaw I take stabs at correcting every now and again. Today, ng_nighthawk benefits from one such spurt of self-improvement. I give you...CARNITAS!
It worked! Oh, but it worked! Here is the base recipe I used:
http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/crock-pot-carnitas-ru326866.html
MODIFICATIONS:
1. I used pork belly (1kg) instead and scaled down the recipe. Leave most of the fatback on.
2. In the UK, they are mad for pork. So in the supermarket you can get pork stock cubes AND ham stock cubes (YES). I used 1.5 pork cubes (1 per 450ml of fluid) for mine.
3. I cooked it on low for 8-10 hours.
4. I poured off most of the cooking fluid instead of shredding the pork back into it and reserved a bit of the fat. You can make this in advance and refrigerate it.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:
I did some research and found that carnitas should be roasted after slow-cooking (contrary to FN's recipe above which sounds more like pulled pork), so...
The next night I took the shredded pork and fat, lined a broiling pan with foil, laid the pork and fat out evenly and roasted it in the oven on a medium setting (175C) for about an hour.
Keep checking for done-ness, though. Since the pork is already cooked, you're just crisping it up so I leave it to you to decide how crispy you want it.
I made some refried beans and pico de gallo and we served up some burritos to our gamer friends.
Patently awesome. I'm going to make this again for our dinner guests in Sunday night. I may tweak here and there but I'm really happy with the way it turned out on the first go.
Also, I am currently in love with this hot sauce:
http://www.chilliworld.com/SP6.asp?p_id=385
I blame Tyler for my growing love of spicy food. Delicious, spicy BLAME...
It worked! Oh, but it worked! Here is the base recipe I used:
http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/crock-pot-carnitas-ru326866.html
MODIFICATIONS:
1. I used pork belly (1kg) instead and scaled down the recipe. Leave most of the fatback on.
2. In the UK, they are mad for pork. So in the supermarket you can get pork stock cubes AND ham stock cubes (YES). I used 1.5 pork cubes (1 per 450ml of fluid) for mine.
3. I cooked it on low for 8-10 hours.
4. I poured off most of the cooking fluid instead of shredding the pork back into it and reserved a bit of the fat. You can make this in advance and refrigerate it.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:
I did some research and found that carnitas should be roasted after slow-cooking (contrary to FN's recipe above which sounds more like pulled pork), so...
The next night I took the shredded pork and fat, lined a broiling pan with foil, laid the pork and fat out evenly and roasted it in the oven on a medium setting (175C) for about an hour.
Keep checking for done-ness, though. Since the pork is already cooked, you're just crisping it up so I leave it to you to decide how crispy you want it.
I made some refried beans and pico de gallo and we served up some burritos to our gamer friends.
Patently awesome. I'm going to make this again for our dinner guests in Sunday night. I may tweak here and there but I'm really happy with the way it turned out on the first go.
Also, I am currently in love with this hot sauce:
http://www.chilliworld.com/SP6.asp?p_id=385
I blame Tyler for my growing love of spicy food. Delicious, spicy BLAME...