Tag: pork
Carnitas
Carnitas
I was asked a few weeks ago if I had a carnitas recipe. I go to my site and realize that I don’t; which is absolutely crazy because I make carnitas all the time. So now, at this very moment, is my carnitas recipe. It really isn’t mine. It is the traditional Mexican recipe, which is just pork, lard, water, and salt(garlic is optional). All you have to do is add all of the ingredients to a pot and braise for 45 minutes. Then you reduce all of the liquid out until the pork starts to fry in its own fat. Once the pork is slightly browned, it’s ready to eat. Carnitas are great in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tamales, tortas, omelettes, nachos, and just about anything else that you can think of.
Equipment
- cast iron pot
Ingredients
- 4 lbs pork shoulder cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup lard
- 8 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp salt
- water
Instructions
- Add the pork, lard, garlic, and salt to a cast iron pot. Pour in enough water to cover the pork. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Uncover. Turn the heat up to high and reduce until all of the water has evaporated. There will only be pork and fat left.
- Turn the heat to medium and fry the pork in its own fat until browned; about 10-15 minutes.
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
Smoked Char Siu Pork Tenderloin
I recently bought some nice pork tenderloins from my friends at Wildfork Foods and wanted to turn one of them into char siu. Then I thought, why not smoke it?! It usually my answer to all of life’s problems. Smoke it. Smoking pork tenderloin is a lot different then smoking other cuts of pork. Because the are very lean and not large, there is the risk of them being over cooked. The key is to preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Get your wood chips smoking for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin and drop the heat to 185 degrees. This will allow a longer smoking time to absorb smoke without drying out. After the first hour, turn the heat back up to 250 degrees. Apply a layer of glaze every 15 minutes for the next 30 minutes. A 24oz pork tenderloin will take 90 minutes in total. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 large pork tenderloin
- 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 red bean curd cubes plus 1 tbsp of juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3/4 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3/4 tsp sesame oil
Glaze
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp marinade liquid
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory
- 1/2 cherry wood
Instructions
- Mix the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork tenderloin in a storage bag for 3 days.
- Let the pork tenderloin rest on a rack overnight before smoking. Save the marinade.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Add in your wood chips. Let smoke for 10 minutes. Throw in your pork tenderloin. Decrease the temp to 185 degrees. Smoke for 1 hour.
- While the tenderloin is smoking, heat up the honey and reserved marinade in a small saucepan until the honey has dissolved.
- Brush the tenderloin with the glaze. Increase the temp to 250. Smoke for 15 minutes. Apply another layer of glaze and smoke for 15 more minutes.
- Let the tenderloin rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
This pulled pork is next level. Pork shoulder gets rubbed with cumin, paprika, and achiote, then simmered in a slow cooker with onion, garlic, green onions, and dark beer. I used a nice locally brewed porter from my friends at the Urban Growler in Saint Paul. The pork will take about 6 hours in your slow cooker. Once the pork is finished, transfer everything from the slow to a large saucepan. Since there is all of this pork/beer broth left, we are going to cook it all off; not wasting a bit of flavor. Once all of the liquid has evaporated, your pork is ready. I stuffed some of the pork into arepas with avocado, pickled onion, and cilantro.
Equipment
- slow cooker
- tortillas press
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground achiote
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 small onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 5 green onions chopped
- 1 1/2 cups dark beer
- 4 lbs pork shoulder
Arepas
- 1 cup masarepa flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 pinch salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings
- pickled onion
- avocado mashed
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
Pulled Pork
- Make a bed of onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. Layer with green onions and garlic. Pour in the beer.
- Mix together all of the spices.
- Rub the pork shoulder with the spice rub.
- Place in the slow cooker and cover.
- Slow cook for 6 hours until the pork falls apart.
- Place all of the contents in the slow cooker in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- Cook down until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Arepas
- Mix together the masarepa flour, salt, and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix in more warm water ass needed to form a dough.
- Split into balls.
- Place a dough ball on a plastic wrapped tortilla press.
- Press until it is between 1/4” – 1/2” thick.
- Pour 1/4” deep of cooking oil in a sauté pan and heat over medium high heat. Add in an arepa. Turn down the heat to medium.
- Cook for 6 minutes a side until golden brown and crispy.
