For
years, I’ve been trying to recreate the carnitas I use to eat at the little
outdoor restaurant in Toluca. All of the recipes I tried were good but I’ve never
had it nailed until I took a cooking class from Chef Cardenas.
In fact,
Carnitas were an afterthought. During our pre-shopping tour in the market,
several of us commented that we would love to learn to make good Carnitas.
That’s all it took. We stopped at a little Carnita place across from the market
to taste them while Chef Cardenas bought a slab of ribs to take home and add
them to the menu.
Now I
just have to grow an orange tree in my back yard so I can do the same thing he
did – pick a fresh orange and squeeze it into the carnitas. That may be a real
trick living in Chicago.
So how
many chefs do you know who would change up a menu at the last minute just to
satisfy his guests? Like I said earlier, I started out with the best. When you
taste these Carnitas you’ll know why.
Buen
Apetito!
Paco’s'Carnitas
3 lb'pork
ribs cut into chunks (the butcher cut mine into bite size pieces)
1 white
onion,'quartered
1
bulb'garlic, separated and skins removed (use Paco’s method for skinning
multiple blubs using 2 steel bowls)
1bay leaf
2 sprigs
thyme
Orange
Sea salt
(heavy dose)
Put all
of the above into a cazuela and cover with water.
Allow to
simmer for approximately 3 hours, or until water is evaporated. Watch towards
the end so pork does not burn.
Add 1/3
c. pork fat.
Add the
juice of one orange.
Continue
to simmer and allow pork to brown. Turn frequently.
Remove to
platter and discard the grease from your cazuela.
Add salsa
verde (approximately 2 cups) to brownings, using a wooden utensil to pry up
crust from the bottom of the pan.
Serve
with fresh, warm tortillas.