Change up your dinners and try these Tacos de Carnitas. They are juicy, crispy and very flavourful! It’s perfect for a family-style dinner, where everyone can help themselves with their favourite toppings.
What are Tacos de Carnitas?
Tacos de Carnitas are sufficient pork taco confited in their own fat and then crispt up and served on tortillas. There are many different accompaniments people enjoy with Tacos de Carnitas, and the most popular being salsa, chilli, lime, coriander and pickled or raw vegetables.
This recipe is meant to be quite oily, fatty and is very flavoursome. You either add pickled vegetables or lime to cut through that fat and add contrast.
Origin
It’s said that the origin of the taco is from Michoacán. With the first Carnitas taco being served around 1521.
What type of Pork is usually used in Tacos de Carnitas?
Traditionally in Michoacán, pigs are cooked whole in melting pots until they are tender. Yes, that includes the snouts and all the offal bits. The lean, tender, offal parts add different textures and flavours to the taco.
After being cooked in the melting pots, they are cooked in fat at different heats to get a bit crispier.
What cut off Pork should I use?
With home cooking, it’s great to keep it simple. I suggest using the pork shoulder. This part of the pig is well-marbled and perfect for slow cooking.
If you can’t find pork shoulder try using pork loin.
How to Pickle Red Onions
Here’s an easy recipe for people who want to add homemade pickled vegetables to their tacos. This recipe takes around 5 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 Red Onion
- 75ml Cider Vinegar
- 1tsp Sugar
- 1tsp Sea Salt
Method
- Finely slice a red onion and place it in a mixing bowl.
- In a small saucepan heat the vinegar, sugar & sea salt to a simmer. Mix the pickling liquid until the sugar has incorporated. Pour over the red onions.
- Leave to pickle for at least 30 minutes.
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Tacos de Carnitas
Equipment
- Large Sauté Pan
- Large Deep Baking Tray
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 700 g Pork Shoulder
- 250 ml Orange Juice
- 5 Cloves Garlic
Pork Rub
- Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tsp Mexican Oregano or Reqular Oregano
- Sea Salt
Suggested Taco Plating
- Small Tortillas
- Spicy Salsa
- Lime
- Fresh Herbs Coriander & (Optional) Micro Radish
- Sliced Pickled Red Onions (Optional) Recipe in the description
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160c.
- In a mixing bowl marinade the pork with olive oil, cumin, oregano & sea salt.
- Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the pork and sear on each side for 2 minutes.
- Until you have a nice brown crust.
- Add the pork, orange juice and crushed garlic cloves to a deep baking tray.
- Tightly wrap the baking tray with tin foil and bake for 2 hours.
- Carefully take out the baking tray and baste the pork (Pour the liqud on top of the pork 5-6 times).
- Wrap the baking tray tightly with tin foil again and bake for 2 and a half hours to 3 hours.
- Until the pork is tender and falling apart.
- Place the pork in a large mixing bowl and use 2 forks to shred the pork.
- Reserve the cooking liquid from the baking tray
Crisping the Pork (6-8 minutes)
- Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add half the cooking liquid and half the pork. Stir quite requarlly and cook into the pork has crisped, this will take 3-4 minutes for each batch. Repeat until all the pork is crisp
Serving your Tacos
- You can either serve by adding all the taco ingredients on to a table for a more family styled dinner or plate individually.
PERUGINI4732
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
Thank you!!1
Jackslobodian
Tuesday 5th of January 2021
No Problem! I hope it was nice :)
Emmeline
Monday 21st of September 2020
I've been wanting to try making carnitas for a long time - and this recipe is so much simpler than most I've seen! This will be my weekend project!
Jackslobodian
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
Yes I loveee carnitas, I hope it all went well :)