Carnitas, slow cooked in a pot of pork fat for hours, so succulent and tasty my mouth is watering as my fingers hit the keyboard. There was a study done about the fat factor of cooking carnitas the traditional way in fat much like my loved Confit, the study weighed the fat prior to cooking the pork, what is interesting and proves a fact I often argue with others is when the fat was weighed post cooking of the pork it weighed more meaning no fat from the method of cooking permeated the meat but rather was released from the fat, interesting and factual. No matter of the facts there are those who will not believe them and search out healthier ways to do something such as Carnitas or pork that has been cooked in fat for many hours then fried crispy, a true south of the boarder taco stand staple. Par boiling is one such way but I have found it leaves you with a dry end result. Leading up to this post I have been speaking of the Sous Vide method which is vacuum packing and placing into a controlled water bath for a set amount of time, this is not boil in a back cooking but rather slow and packed full of flavor and everything that is lost during other methods of cooking so refer to my previous post where I explain how to do Sous Vide stove top or as in this post use a crock pot that has good heat control. Fill your crock pot with water leaving 2 inches from the top of the pot and set to 150 degrees which is usually low on pre set models, check the temp with a thermometer and adjust accordingly.
Ingredients:
1 ea 2-3 lb pork butt or shoulder roast (trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
In a large bowl place cut up pork and season well with dry ingredients, equally divide pork into four separate vacuum pack baggies and seal being sure to remove all of the air. vide pork and get ready for something special.
Now comes the hard part, place the vacuum sealed baggies of pork into the water bath that is 150 degrees for 4-6 hours checking every hour to ensure your bath is at 150 degrees and that the water has not evaporated out. If you need to add water boil it first, add and adjust to temp using ice cubes and your thermometer. Now that the vacuum sealed pork has bathed in the water for 4-6 hours, remove from the bags from the water, cut open the baggies and pour contents into a bowl to be strained from any of the liquids which should be minimal due to being cooked under vacuum. At this point I strongly recommend giving the pork a taste just for the WOW factor. OK now onto the next step, allow the pork to cool to a temp you can handle it , shred and place on a sheet pan, Place the sheet pan under the broiler for a couple of minutes to crisp up the sous
I will be back with some pre holiday offerings so stay tuned, until then "Think Good Thoughts & Smile".
