Food & Recipes

Thinking Big with Beer-Braised Carnitas

More than One Food Memory from Carnitas: Delicious Pulled Pork

I love Carnitas on anything – only one problem –  you can’t ever make a small amount of it.  But, the great thing about bulk recipes is that they can be used in multiple ways and you can make more than one food memory all from one pot!   This recipe for Beer-Braised Carnitas is one of those – you can use it for tacos, burritos, nachos, over a simple salad, added to eggs for a breakfast skillet with hash browns– and that’s just off the top of my head!  I found this on one of my favorite recipe sites- epicurious.  It was published in February 2013 by bon appétit and was created by Chris Morocco.  Please note: more than one reviewer suggested cutting the salt in half.

Ingredients

  • 2 dried New Mexico or guajillo chiles
  • 4 pounds skinless, boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 2″ pieces
  • 12 ounce lager (such as Modelo Especial or Budweiser)
  • 4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
  • 4 teaspoons kosher salt

Preparation

  1. Toast chiles in a dry large heavy pot over medium heat until slightly puffed and lightly darkened on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove from pot; let cool. Stem chiles and halve lengthwise; discard seeds.
  2. Bring chiles, pork, beer, garlic, salt, and 1 cup water to a boil in same pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pork is fork-tender, 60-80 minutes.
  3. Uncover pork; simmer until liquid evaporates and pork begins to brown, 20-25 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and scraping bottom of pot, until pork is shredded and browned, 10-15 minutes.
  4. Add 1 cup water to pork; cook, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, for about 1 minute.
  5. DO AHEAD: Carnitas can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool. Cover and chill. Reheat with 1/2 cup water in a covered pot, adding more water if needed to keep pork moist.

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