Carnitas

Home made Carnitas Tacos.

The Best Homemade Carnitas

One thing I think we can all agree with, we love tacos and this Carnitas recipe is no exception. If you don’t know what that means, I’m talking about tender yet crispy thin pieces of pork meat that have been cooked to perfection. Some of the busiest cities in Mexico and in the United States have street vendors cranking out these little gems like they’re going out of style. Folks can’t get enough and I’m going to show you how to do it better than any other online recipe.

Raw bone in pork shoulder roast with the skin.

Misconceptions about Carnitas

The very definition of the Latin word, “Carnitas” translates as braised or roasted pork served shredded in small pieces. Some people seem to think that means that the meat should be cut into small portions before cooking it. Nonsense. It’s the final product that needs to be chopped up. Some of the most famous cookeries in Mexico braise all of the meat in large portions. The only reason to cut the pork into small pieces would be to fit in your pot, if your home pot isn’t big enough. Also, you won’t be needing any additional lard to cook this recipe because this pork shoulder is marinated first, then baked and roasted in it’s own rendered fat.

Carnitas marinade.

Carnitas Marinade

As I already mentioned, Carnitas is braised or Roasted pork. In Mexico and most online recipes, the pork is cooked in large amounts of lard first, then all of the other ingredients are added half way through or more towards the end of the cooking. Marinating the meat first, then baking with the slow and low method, accomplishes several things; it flavors, tenderizes and allows you to free up your time instead of baby sitting the stove for several ours. If I want tacos for lunch, I get this started the night before and it cooks itself until I get up the next day. Not to mention, this process cooks the meat perfectly and I prove that in the video tutorial down below.

Fully Cooked Carnitas for tacos and burritos.

Carnitas Final Steps

This Carnitas recipe will roast for 12 hours in the oven but it’s not finished yet. Although you can achieve the tenderness from the slow and low method, you’re still going to want to add some more flavor and a bit of crispiness to the meat. This can be done by adding the final ingredients, orange juice, coca-cola, bay leaves and cranking the oven up several notch’s. After you add those ingredients you want to bake the pork with the lid off for another hour. Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, cut spin and rotate the meat before and every half hour to reach its full potential. You’ll understand better, once you watch my tutorial.

If you’re interested in other taco recipes look into my Chipotle Chicken, Barbacoa, Street Tacos(Cabesa), Fish Tacos and my Taco Salad recipes. I’ve got two recipes for the Greek Tacos too; Pork Gyros and my American Greek Gyro recipe.

Carnitas Ingredients

10 lbs Pork Shoulder

1/4 cup Garlic Infused Oil
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Cumin
2 tbsp Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce
2 tbsp Sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Coca Cola
2 Bay Leaves
1 Onion

Bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 hours. Cut pork into Pieces. Add Orange Juice, Cola and Bay Leaves to the rendered fat and cut pieces of meat. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, with the lid off for 30 minutes. Stir the mixture and bake for 30 more minutes, then remove from oven and shred.

Pizza Dough

Youtube Pizza Dough Main pic

This is a fantastic Pizza Dough recipe.  I posted this recipe in the past only this time with a few variations or as I like to think, improvements.  If you’d like to check out the original post CLICK HERE, but it’s only recently I have been able to film a better quality step by step tutorial.  There are a few optional ingredients that will be labeled as such in the ingredients below just in case you want a straight forward authentic Pizza Dough.  I use this dough in my Calzone’s and my Stromboli’s as well as the, obvious, Pizza Recipes I’ve posted in the past.  All of which are listed below.

CLICK HERE for Margherita Pizza
CLICK HERE for Hamburger Pizza
CLICK HERE for Stromboli Supreme
CLICK HERE for Calzone
CLICK HERE for Canoe Calzone’s

Pizza Dough Ingredients:

Combine the following and let it stand 10 min. to activate.
You’ll know it’s activated if it doubles in size.

1 tsp. dry yeast
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water 110 degrees f

Separate bowl Combine in the following order

3 cups BREAD flour (All Purpose Flour works fine too)
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Onion powder, (optional)
1 cup warm water
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Honey

FYI – I can cut this dough into 3rds, 1/3 for bread sticks and 2/3 for a pizza pie. The larger portion can flatten into a 14 inch pizza and I can roughly get about 8 bread sticks out of the leftover third.  You will also get the best results letting this dough rise for an hour before pressing into shape.  You should bake this crust with the oven temperature set as high as it will go and put the pizza pan on the lowest oven shelf height to ensure the bottom gets color and crisp.  Just to give you an idea, my oven  hits 550 f and I bake 6 to 8 minutes tops.

Smothered Salmon

Smothered Salmon Main Pic

The Best Smothered Salmon

This Smothered Salmon recipe is something I came up with years ago.  My wife has a serious love for this fish so I wanted to create something that was undeniably the best and believe it or not, this recipe can be prepped and cooked in just 15 minutes.  It has a Garlic, Wine and Butter Broth that is just amazingly smooth.  I actually use this to saute the Onions and Peppers as well as steam the fish.  I like to prop the Salmon right over the top of the veggies so the filet can steam from below as well as from above when I top the pan with a lid.  Then after just a few short minutes I smother the fish with Mozzarella Cheese, then cover back up with the lid long enough for it to melt.  Once it has, you have a perfectly cooked Salmon that is ready to serve.  Total cooking time is, approximately, 6 to 7 minutes.  And once it hits the plate, I dash pieces of Bacon, I sprinkle freshly chopped Parsley and then I splash some Balsamic Vinegar right over the top.

If you’re interested in seeing how I cook Halibut, Rockfish or Swai, check out the links below.  I even have a Poor Man’s Lobster recipe if you’re interested.

CLICK HERE for Grilled Halibut
CLICK HERE for Grilled Rockfish
CLICK HERE for Pan Fried Swai
CLICK HERE for Poor Man’s Lobster

Smothered Salmon Ingredients:

1 Salmon Fillet
1/2 Bell Pepper
1/2 Onion
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cube butter
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1 tbsp fresh or dried Parsley
1 to 2 tbsp chopped Bacon or bits
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper Salmon to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper