CARNITAS! 

April 18, 2016

I tell you what, trying to write a blog post as a stay-at-home-mom is HA-larious. It’s a miracle when I have two minutes to sit down and put a coherent sentence together, and maybe add some pictures and then hit “publish.” Half the time I walk away thinking, “Did that even make sense???”

Yet here I go again!! Attempting to write.

This weekend was CHOCK FULL of fun things to do in Charlottesville. The Fridays After Five season kicked-off Friday night, and was a BLAST as usual. Tom Tom Founders Festival was on, and so was the DogWood Festival. There were so many family friendly things to do, and everyone was out enjoying the sunshine! Oh how I love Charlottesville in Spring.

Brenden decided to make Carnitas on Sunday, which is a FAVORITE at our house. I’m giddy any time he decides to cook because 1) It’s always delicious and 2) I DON’T HAVE TO COOK!

This time I told him to wait for me so I could take pictures and share this deliciousness with you. It was quite a scene, Brielle and Michael standing on a chair waiting for us to take them swimming, all four of us in our tiny kitchen getting the pork ready to cook.
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This is the easiest meal to make ever. I know I always say that, but the payoff of this taco far outweighs the effort.

Start with a beautiful piece of boneless pork shoulder. Brenden got a 2 lb piece from Whole Foods.
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Take off the string
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Trim whatever fat is obviously “too much” fat. So you don’t have to get rid of it all, just the excess.
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Then cut the meat into about two inch pieces.
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Now this is kind of gross but in addition to this HUGE piece of pork you also need Pork Lard. I know.
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Whole Foods doesn’t carry it so Brenden gets it at a local market. You need two small containers like this. I don’t know the exact weight but I can’t imagine it needs to be a perfect science. You just want to make sure the meat is semi-covered and simmering in it.

Spoon the lard into a crock pot turned on HIGH.
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Once it is melted (and a clear liquid) add the chunks of pork to it.
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Cook on HIGH for 3 hours.

Now it’s time to FRY it! Yes, you heard me right.

Take a couple tablespoons of the lard/pork juice from the crock pot and put in a skillet. Make the lard/juice mixture HOT and add little pieces of pork to the pan until crispy.

This is the shredded pork before I added it to the pan
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I don’t have a picture of the frying process because things got hectic, to say the least. And kids and hot oil don’t mix!

Once the pork is fried (and WAY TOO GOOD for words) set it on a paper towel covered plate.
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ADD SEA SALT. This step is soooooo important. Regular salt is good too.

Next we heat some tortillas. No oil, no butter (finally, right??) Just a HOT pan and some corn tortillas.
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There are so many things that can be added to these tacos. I like it simple, black beans and avocados and a little salsa.
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Seriously, some of the best tacos I’ve ever had right here.
And TONS of leftovers for the rest of the week!
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I hope everyone has a beautiful happy week!
XOXO

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