something coming soon.
When I can figure out how to get a list of the other posts in this category here, it will be. For now, just some pictures. =)
flickr stream.
Carnitas, Take 57
Last night was Taco Night according to the menu and I thought what a great chance to work on my Carnitas recipe to try and take my mind off of the fact that without Teflon I have very few pots and pans. Nice ones thankfully, but few.
So for the Carnitas I started out with about 1 1/4 lb of pork shoulder, but cut into steaks. It’s what they had at Whole Foods, so I went with it. I put one of my dutch ovens on the stove, and started warming it. I was thinking that I needed to sear it before I started the braise. Right? This isn’t rocket science. When things seemed hot, I poured in some olive oil, and added the pork. I let it cook for a few minutes and then flipped it. There was some browning, but not as much as I’d like. But, since the steak is much thinner than a whole shoulder, I was worried about overcooking it. I added salt and pepper, and turned the pork over again. Next I tossed in a couple crushed cloves of garlic, some sliced onion, some oregano and some cumin and stirred. Then I broke out the Cholula, which is a hot sauce made from crushed dried peppers and vinegar basically. I poured in about 1/4 cup ( this hardly added any heat to the final dish, but lots of chili flavor ). Then I poured in a Budweiser and covered the pot. When it started to simmer, I turned the heat down to way low, and waited. After about 35 minutes I started to taste the meat. Pork shoulder goes through phases when it’s cooking. First it’s done, then it gets tender. To short a time leaves tough meat. To long a time leaves tough meat. Just right melts in your mouth. When it started falling apart easily and had a good consistency I pulled it out and served.
But the meat came out too dry. I think I didn’t sear it quite enough, because it had good flavor, but the consistency was wrong. Argh! Hopefully I’ll have better luck next time, which will be soon since I’m entered in a Chili cook-off next Friday, an experience I’ll be documenting here of course.
posted to In the Kitchen, at 02:51 PM. permalink
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