Friday, September 30, 2011

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas.


I work in an Italian restaurant.  Its pretty amazing and I'm always proud to talk about the food we dish up there.  The ingredients are mostly local and in-season (right up my alley) which makes it serendipitous, for me anyway, that everyday before we open the cooks prepare us staff lunch.  We all sit down at the bar and fill up on whatever delicious concoction Jose has prepared for us (in case you were wondering Jose is not Italian). 
About a week or so ago I arrived for my shift a half hour early to clean and set up the bar in preparation for an impending health inspection. If you have ever worked in a restaurant for any amount of time you understand the weight of the phrase "impending health inspection".  No matter how careful and clean you are this health inspector will strike the fear of God, Himself into your heart.   She's nefariously good at what she does.  
I digress.
 So this particular day I was hunched over the soda gun with toothpicks and sanitizer when an amazing shredded pork dish comes to the bar for lunch. I still had quite a bit of work ahead of me before open so I plugged on working,  a decision that has haunted me ever since.  When 10 people dining together are completely silent, save for a few 'Mmms' and 'Yums' for the duration of a meal, you know its got to be delicious. 
That staff lunch was the inspiration for this recipe. I went straight home with the promise of shredded pork in my fridge for days to come.




Here is what you will need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
a teeny pinch of ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

 Now, as you can see I used two small pork tenderloins instead of one large roast- because that's what I had in my freezer- so I cut the spice quantities in half.

Take all your dry ingredients and mix them together in a bowl

Coat the pork with the spice mixture
Place a few bay leaves on the bottom of your slow cooker

then place the pork on the bay leaves

measure our your stock/broth

and pour into your slow cooker, careful not to rinse the spices from the pork.

Now set it and forget it! 
(slow and low for 8 hours)


I don't have any photos of the succeeding steps because while this little beauty was cooking away I went to work and instructed Chris to do the shredding but not the photographing... Once the pork is finished remove it from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Using two forks shred the pork and return to the slow cooker so that the meat can absorb the Au jus.



From here you can do just about anything from carnitas to risotto (I did both!)  For the carnitas add fresh pico de gallo, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime. To make a full meal add a side of black beans and roasted sweet potato. Pork and sweet potatoes were meant to be together.



Save the leftover pork for tomorrow's recipe, that is, if you have any.

Enjoy!