Pork Carnitas Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork butt
- 5 Cloves garlic sliced
- 1 onion quartered
- 1 jalapeno minced and seeded
- 2 Juice of oranges
- 1 Dried bay leaf
- 1 tbsp preserved fat oil, or lard (more if needed)
carnitas rub:
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp paprika
Instructions
Pork Butt Prep
-
Pat the pork butt until dry.
-
Using a a trimming knife, trim any exterior loose pieces of fat. If your pro butt has a fat cap, leave it intact for now. Using a boning knife, make a fut between the fat cap and the meat to make a small “pocket”. If your meat doesn't have a fat capo, that's ok. Make sure you create a pocket large enough to season the meat entirely. The fat cap will keep in all the delicious flavors of the seasoning.
-
On the rest of the meat, make similar pockets with a knife and insert the garlic slices.
-
Combine the ingredients for the dry rub and rub all over the pork butt making sure to season under the fat cap like mentioned before.
-
Place the seasoned pork butt in a slow cooker with fat cap facing up (if it has a fat cap). Add the onion, jalapeño, bay leaf, and fresh squeezed orange juice.
-
Cook on high for 6. The meat should be tender enough to fall apart at the touch of a fork. Remove the pork butt (reserving liquid) from the slow cooker and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Using two forks shred the pork.
-
Keep the juices in the slow cooker if using the below oven method. Now you can either continue on to the next steps & serve right away or store and refrigerate until ready.
TO SERVE:
-
Oven Method: Place oven rack 3 inches from top and set the oven to broil. use lard to grease a sheet pan liberally. Spread shredded pork in a single layer. Place pork under broiler 5-6 minutes or until pork is slightly crispy, not dry. (Caution: Oil may smoke due to high heat.)
-
Remove pan from oven and pour reserved liquid over pork until it sits in the bottom the tray. Don't over pour. Stir and serve immediately.
