A Boston butt is braised in beer, pulled, and then crisped in the oven. Carnitas are best served in taco form in my opinion.
Ingredients
14 poundPork butt
1lime
Salt and pepper
2Tablespoonscanola oil
3lager beers
Water
Assorted dried peppers, I used a mix of 2 ancho, 3 New Mexico, 7 arbol
4clovesgarlic, sliced
2bay leaves
Fixings:
Flour or corn tortillas
Salsa, above or from a jar
Red onion, sliced
Cojita cheese, crumbled
Cilantro, optional
Black beans, optional
Simple Salsa:
128-ouncecan fire roasted tomatoes, drained
¼red onion, chopped
3clovesgarlic, chopped
1lime, juice only
2jalapenos, seeded and chopped
Handful of cilantro, optional
Salt and pepper
Instructions
To make salsa, roughly chop all your ingredients and add them to a blender or food processor. Pulse until it’s chunky. Adjust flavors to fit your tastes.
Trim off some of the larger chunk of fats from the pork butt. Chop the butt into a few large chunks and add them to a bowl with salt, pepper, and the juice from one lime. Let this all marinade for an hour.
In a large dutch oven, heat a few tablespoons of neutral oil. Once hot, add pork chunks and sear well on all sides. Work in batches and don’t crowd the pan. They will need 4 minutes per side to brown well.
Pour off the fat from the pork and reserve it for later. Don’t wash the pot.
Add roasted dried peppers (roasted at 300 degrees for just 5 minutes) to the pot along with a cup of water. Use the water to scrape up all of the burned bits of pork in the pan. This is easy if you have it over high heat still. Then add all your other braising ingredients and bring to a simmer.
Add pork pieces back the pot. When liquid is simmering, cover, and put it in a 325 degree oven for 3 hours.
Remove your pork pieces from the pot after they braise and let them cool briefly. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees at this point.
Once your pork is cool enough to handle, pull it into strands with a few forks or your hands.
Add the pork to a baking dish. Pour the pork drippings from earlier over the shredded pork. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes and the top of the pork will get nice and crispy.