Pork Fest Weekend - Dish 1 - Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas - Olé

I have been drooling over this recipe for weeks now. As luck would have it, boneless pork roast was on sale at the store, so I picked up two, each between 2 and 3 pounds.

Tonight, the pork stars in crispy carnitas, with all the fixings: queso cotija, green onion, radishes, cabbage, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, sour cream (I went with yogurt) and salsa. And yes, my new favorite: La Tortilla Factory's soft fluffy flour tortillas!

Most carnitas recipes seem overly laborious, and use a variety of ingredients as varied as oranges, milk, sweetened condensed milk (???), frying in lard, etc., etc., etc. This recipe makes it a potentially an any-old-night meal, with little prep, lots of unattended cooking and a fairly quick browning at the end. Couple the non-heat producing method of slow cooking along with fresh, crisp, cool toppings, and this is good summer eats!

Tomorrow: Slow Cooker Thai Pork with Peanut Sauce.

Mangia!

CRISPY SLOW COOKER CARNITAS
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

1 (2-3 lb.) lean boneless pork roast, excess fat trimmed, cut into 3-inch chunks

8 oz. beer

1 large white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp chipotle powder (or 1 chipotle in adobo sauce)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the pork and sear on each side until browned (about 2 minutes per side). Transfer pork to the slow cooker. Pour the beer into the skillet and deglaze the pan, scraping with a spoon to get all the good brown stuff.

Add remaining ingredients, and give the mixture a careful stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours until the pork is completely tender and shreds easily with a fork.

Once the pork is cooked, preheat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Use a fork to shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, spray the skillet with cooking spray and then use a slotted spoon to transfer it in batches to the skillet, spreading it out evenly in a single layer. Reserve the remaining broth from the slow cooker.

Sear for about 3 minutes, or until the edges of the pork begin crisping up. Carefully toss the pork. Then ladle about 1/4 cup of the remaining slow cooker broth over the pork. Cook for an additional 3 minutes to get the meat more crispy. Then remove and ladle an additional 1/4 cup of broth over the crispy pork.

Repeat with the remaining pork.