Because it was so cold, I put it in the oven to warm the house a bit. I put it in a big Lodge enameled cast iron pot at 300 for 5 hours. No need for the corn starch slurry at the end; everything melded just beautifully. The flavors were harmonious in a way that’s typical of great restaurant food but that I rarely achieve at home.
Sounds like an interesting variation. I usually just do a spice rub (coriander, cumin, pepper, salt, dry mustard, chili powder, brown sugar) and roast it until it’s just under 200 degrees, then toss it with a ketchup-based sauce. The slaw I use is green cabbage, red onion, jalapenos, cider vinegar, a bit of olive oil, and mayo.
I don’t even bother with recipes much any more with it. You can just throw it in the pot with whatever, and it turns out great.
One technique I do a lot, though, is basic carnitas. I chop the shoulder up into cubes, throw them in a pot, cover with water. Add spices if you want - whole dried chiles are good, onions, garlic, whatever. Maybe a beer. Cook until the meat falls apart.
Pull meat out with a slotted spoon, and reduce the liquid until it’s pretty thick. Shred the pork, throw it back in the liquid, mix, add salt & pepper and anything else you want.
Now take the whole mess and put it on a cookie sheet, and throw it under the broiler until the top gets crispy. Give it a stir, crisp it again.
Use to fill tacos or eat with a spoon directly from the cookie sheet. Heaven. Freezes well, too, so you can have yum yum pork tacos whenever you want.
Ooo, that sounds good! That slaw sounds amazing - I may sub purple cabbage. Do you do that shoulder in the crock pot or in a dutch oven? Any rough numbers, for duration or temp - I know, asking ya’ll for numbers is tough. I’m getting to be the same way
The crazy thing about the previous recipe, 5 hours @ 300, is that it DID get that real cripsy/charred bits since 80% of the meat wasn’t submerged. My first bowl I really thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
I reduce the chipotle in adobo sauce and it’s plenty hot. We eat it in small tortillas with cilantro, avocado etc, or on buns with pickle chips. Comes out better slow cooked in oven than in the crockpot. I think it gets better carmelization.
I sometimes make it the way I make Italian beef. In the crockpot: 1-2 packets of dry Italian seasoning, a sliced onion, a jar of pepperoncini. Cook it til it falls apart, take it out and shred it, throw it back in, serve on rolls. Oh, man…I love it and I’m not even much of a fan of pork.
I just put it in an uncovered roasting pan at 300 for about 3-4 hours (3 lb roast). This results in a nicely caramelized crust. I start checking the temperature at about 2-1/2 hours. If it gets up over 200 internal, the meat will start getting stringy. This is the recipe I use for the whole shebang.
That’s pretty much my technique if I’m doing it in the oven. I like the dry/uncovered roast for the crust it makes. However, I also like doing a plantain/banana-leaf wrapped covered-in-a-Dutch-oven version of cochinita pibil. Rick Bayless has another version of that recipe which uses the achiote paste you can find in Mexican groceries (which is the version I usually make.) If you’re doing that, you can skip ahead in step 1 to the addition of the sour orange juice. (Basically, you just need to mix this paste with the sour orange juice to make the paste. If you don’t have sour/bitter orange/naranja agria juice available where you’re at, the standard substitution seems to be a mix of orange and lime, but I think grapefruit and lime works better in approximating bitter orange).
:eek: This is my go to dish! I take out 2 chipotles and only a half can of dr pepper. I agree it’s terrible in the crockpot. (I also never flip it).
Starting to have flashbacks…I remember you posting this in a thread long ago and forgetting about it, wishing I knew where it was. Now it’s printed out so it’ll get made. Woohoo!
drools This thread is going way better than anticipated.
Any rough estimates for ratio of grapefruit to lime?
No flipping- sounds like a good idea. Mine falls apart when I flip it. I also use just a mini can of soda. I use half a can of a 7 oz chipotles and its plenty hot!
