Carnitas

Pork Carnitas w/diced onions and chopped cilantro

At work when there is a party we will usually hire a taco man who will show up for about 3 hours serving some DELICIOUS: carne asada, carnitas, and chicken tacos.  The tacos are so yummy *drool.  So like everything else I have tried and loved or find that's too expensive to pay for I make an attempt to replicate it.  This time I decided that I wanted to make carnitas.  Carnitas is like a mexican version of a pulled pork.  After spending 2 days searching on the internet for a good carnita recipe that I liked I decided to make an attempt.  I tried following the directions I found online, but the only problem when it came down to making it was that after reading so many recipes I took a little from here and a little from there.  So therefore, I usually remember the list of ingredients and add as much as I see necessary.
 Ingredients:
4 pound of pork butt, which is really a pigs shoulder, trim the fat
3 tbs seasoned salt
2 tbs dried cumin
1 tbs black pepper
1 1/2 cup of chicken stock
5 cloves of minced garlic
1 brown onion diced
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 6oz cans of salsa verde

Directions:
1. Wash and trim the excess fat off the pork then cut into cubes.
2. Season the pork for the seasoned salt, cumin, black pepper and brown in a skillet.
3. Remove the pork and place it in a crockpot.
4. Add the chicken stock, garlic, onion and salsa verde in the skillet along with all the burnt bits.
5. Pour all the sauce from the skillet in into the crockpot and set it on high for 3 hours.
6. After 3 hours remove the pork from the crockpot and by this point you should be able to easily shred the pork chunks with 2 forks.
7. Place the shredded pork into a casserole dish and pour about 2 1/2 cups of the sauce from the crockpot into the casserole dish.
8. Place the dish under the broiler for about 25 minutes or until the sauce has been absorbed.  If the meat starts to brown too fast then mix it a little.  I like the brown crispy parts so I left it a little longer.

I decided to serve the tacos on warm corn tortillas topped with fresh diced white onions and fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lemon.  I would have used lime, but I only have a lemon tree ^_^

The carnitas turned out to be a big hit with my family.  I think everyone gobbled down a minimum of 3 tacos each!  Some are way more than that.  We were even thinking about hiring a taco man for my niece's birthday party, but I think that I can handle it now =)