There is a great pastry chef I have followed for years named David Lebovitz. A NYer who made his name in SF then moved to Paris, he writes a delightful blog and has published several cookbooks, mostly about sweets.
So imagine my surprise when years ago I searched online for a carnitas recipe, and the most popular result I found was written by a gay, Jewish pastry chef.
He prefaced the recipe with a hilarious story about a Mexican dinner party he threw for French friends who had no experience of great Mexican cuisine.
The first time I followed his recipe, I was blown away how delicious it turned out, full of flavor and warmth without being overly spicy. Its also spectacularly easy, despite taking so long.
Carnitas
Ingredients
- 4-5 pounds pork shoulder cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cups water approximately
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 12-oz bottle beer
- salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Salt the pork pieces, then brown in the oil on the stove in a dutch oven.
- Add 1 cup water and deglaze the pan.
- Add the spices, the beer, and then as much more water as needed to almost cover the pork.
- Put the uncovered pot in the oven and roast for 3 to 3.5 hours, turning over the meat occasionally.
- Remove from the oven, shred the pork with a fork and return to oven to crisp up.
- Serve with corn tortillas, avocado, queso fresco, and pickled red onions.