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Car-NOT-nitas


Many years ago in town adjacent to my mother in laws was the most wonderful Mexican grocery store that served precooked foods such as Pork Carnitas. They were crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.  Even after a 30 minute trip home plus dinner prep time!  Served on skillet warmed corn tortillas with cilantro and salsa, nothing else was needed.  If you were lucky, there was a hunk of onion in the mix and it could be divided among four or five tacos.  They were the best.  Not really a Tex-Mex food where I grew up but popular all the same.

Modifications Made:
Not using a crock pot but a dutch oven, the pork roast, seasonings, and water to cover were added all at once and given a good stir. Pork was cooked till fork tender.

Scaled for Likability: Good
This was NOT carnitas in any fashion.  While the meat was tasty and tender, it was completely shredded.  If this shredded pork would have been skillet fried it would have turned dry and tough.  Honestly, the barbacoa tacos this morning had more chunk to it than the shredded pork.  In order to obtain that perfect level of crunch on the outside of the meat, the meat must retain a fair amount of chunk to allow for frying.  To truly obtain the correct texture a pork shoulder must be used.  Next time, a pork shoulder or butt will be used along with lime juice instead of orange juice.
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