The other day i bought at the local mexican market carnitas (fried pork).
it was & is delicious, and i have never mastered cooking this at home, so buying it hot & ready to eat is an option for me. this is a quick & simple meal.


ingredients:

2 cup dices cabbage
1-2 tblespn olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 cup diced carnitas

saute cabbage in olive oil, season to taste, toss in diced carnitas.
heat thouroughly

this was actually quite a bit of food for 1 person but it kept me happy (& full) till breakfast the next morning.


i hope you enjoy this as much as i did


cindy

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Cindy

Sept 2003 248 lbs :( 5'3"
June 2004 190 :hot:
July 2005 208.6
March 2006 220 (damn) :crying:

striving to be a loser.....

Carnitas is one of my faves! In fact DH had it today for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, with just shredded lettuce and guacamole alongside. It's so good!

It is actually very easy to fix though if you're so inclined - get yourself a nice boneless pork shoulder (also called butt) - plop it in the crockpot. Add a diced onion, some minced garlic, a handful of fresh cilantro, and some dried oregano - pour a LC beer over it and let it cook on Low a good 8 to 10 hours, or til falling-apart tender.

Remove carefully from the crockpot and allow to cool long enough to handle. Shred or cut into cubes, whichever you prefer.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400*. Toss the pork with fat - I prefer melted lard, but you can use olive oil (extra light is the mildest taste) or bacon fat (saltier but good) and spread it out on a large baking sheet (I line with heavy-duty foil so it's easier to clean up!) and pop it in the oven. Turn with a wide spatula every 10-15 minutes until it's getting browned and crispy on the outside.

Alternatively you can fry it in a big cast-iron skillet too.

Use plenty of fat, you want it nice and crispy with that good flavor!

Or you could just buy it at the local market....

I love to make it myself though!

Char

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

Oh, yum. When I finish eating my current pork shoulder (slow-roasted, based on Karen Barnaby's recipe) I will be hooking up some carnitas for sure.

Char
i just might have to try your recipe - its sounds great.
we are spoiled here in ventura county when it comes to finding good mexican food - on the go (ie - all that good meat!)

cindy

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Cindy

Sept 2003 248 lbs :( 5'3"
June 2004 190 :hot:
July 2005 208.6
March 2006 220 (damn) :crying:

striving to be a loser.....

I hope you'll like it! It sure does make the house smell GOOOOOD when it's cooking!

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

Well, I tried it, Char, and it ROCKS! (as I knew it would).

Two changes, though. First, like a dork, I picked up two packages of flat leaf parsley instead of one of parsley and one of cilantro when I was flying around the supermarket at sonic speed.

Undaunted, I threw a bunch of the parsley into the crock-pot instead of the cilantro and added some cumin seed. Then I tossed in a bay leaf. (I'm half Sicilian - I throw bay leaves into everything. )

Then, in a moment of pure genius, I divied the cooked, but yet unfried, pork pieces into little packages and froze most of them. I left out one double portion and fried it up in some lard. It was delightful the first night. I took the fried up remains for lunch the next day and just heated it up in the microwave. A little chipotle sauce and a salad and I had a wonderful lunch.

Great stuff!

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It's also very easy to make just buying the boneless country ribs and throwing them in a pan with a lid on medium for a few hours.

Turn them every 30 minutes or so. After they've exuded all their moisture and cooked in their own steam, take the lid off and they'll start automatically frying in their own fat/lard as all the water evaporates.

This is something I like to do on a Sunday when we're around the house. I just let it cook while I'm doing other things.

Once it's done, we usually use part of it (before it fries) as BBQ pulled pork and the other part as carnitas. DH even used it in a pinch as stir fry meat!

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It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

Oooh, I made a big batch of carnitas last night, using Charski's method.
Yum. Just... yum.

This sounds WONDERFUL! One of my favorite dishes! I was concerned about buying it prepared though, I thought it might be full of sugar. I'm planning to try this ASAP! thanks Char

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I'm so dang lazy...I throw the pork loin in the crockpot and pour a large (about 30 oz.) can of green chili enchilada sauce over the meat and cook for 10 hours and I have a ton of meat for burritos, tacos, enchiladas...with LC tortillas of course! Very savory and moist! And couldn't be more simple.

Gotta be careful with some of those sauces. I bought a big can of Enchilada sauce to go with my low carb tortillas for pork burritos. But while the sauce had only 3 net carbs a serving, it turned out the can had 26 servings! 72 net carbs a low-carb meal doth not make

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Sven
305/218/200
Start Date: 1/1/06

Welcome to low-carb eating.
The food's not bad here.