Memorial Day brought with it the desire to fire up some homemade pork carnitas tacos and cilantro lime rice. A good old fashioned Mexican feast. It's honestly a really simple dish to make, and I don't know about your house, by the people around my table dig it far more than your average ground beef taco.
INGREDIENTS2 Cups Water
2 Limes
1 Orange
1 Onion
2 Bay Leaves
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
3/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoons Cumin
4 - 6 Pound Pork Shoulder
In a large measuring cup, measure out your two cups of water. If you're not fond of the tap water in your area, then I highly recommend using bottled water. In fact, I recommend that for any recipe you make. Clear tasting water can make a world of difference when cooking / baking.
To your water, add your salt, pepper and cumin, and give it a stir. Then juice your limes and orange into this mixture, stirring it again. Don't discard your orange peel. Instead, slice it up into segments, and throw it in the mixing cup.
Peel and slice and onion in four, and add it to your measuring cup. Lastly, toss two bay leaves in, gently pushing them down to submerge them.
You can use this right away, or you can cover it, and refrigerate for twenty-four hours, the latter of which is what I do.
Whether you start a day in advance, or immediately move on, the next step is to slice up your pork shoulder into large chunks. Start by preheating your over to 300°.
Most pork shoulders still have the bone in it, so you're going to need to work carefully to remove this first.
Once you've done this, slicing the shoulder into large sections will help make it more manageable for splitting into chunks. This also helps you remove any of the "excess" fat that you want to discard. Pork shoulders are relatively fatty, and it's not a bad thing to trim off large segments of it, unless you like eating it.
With large segments on my cutting board, I then proceed to cut large palm size chunks. This meat is going to cook low and slow, and anything smaller than that may get dried out in this process.
Transfer your sliced up chunks to a large baking dish, and pour your liquid mixture overtop, spreading out your onions and orange peels across the top.
Leave it uncovered, and transfer it to the oven to cook uncovered for three hours at 300°.
While the meat is cooking, I prep my "toppings" for my tacos. I like to keep them legit, using onions, cilantro, lime, and radishes.
I simply put everything in its own dish for serving alongside the meat when it's done. And, yes. I know. I forgot to take a photo of the onions.
After three hours, check your meat. You want it to be fork tender, breaking easily, but not being so soft that it shreds apart at the slightest touch. Depending on how deep your baking dish is, it may or may not brown a bit on top. No biggie if it does because you'll be doing this anyway shortly. For now, let the meat cool for thirty minutes to an hour. Help this along by transferring it to a baking dish, or in my case, a grill safe broiling pan.
DO NOT THROW AWAY THE LIQUID. You're going to need this.
While the meat is cooling, I'm changing the temp on my oven to 350°, and putting a large skillet with a lid on the stove. It's time to make my rice. Much like bacon, I'm a firm believer that the secret to good rice is the oven.
1 1/2 Cups Rice
3 Cups Hot Water
1 Packet Knoor Red Rice Seasoning
2 Ounces Lime Juice
4 Tablespoons Cilantro
2 Tablespoons Butter
Turn your stove heat on medium, and melt your butter in the pan. While it's melting, measure out your three cups of water, and add your Knorr red rice seasoning, and stir it well to combine.
Once your butter has melted, add your rice to the pan, and stir it well to coat with the butter, then simply let this sit on the stove for a minute or two while the bottom of the rice browns a bit.
Give your rice a stir, and just let it get nice and toasted on all sides.
Reduce the heat to medium low, and add your lime juice. This is where it's going to be important to stir frequently because the natural sugars in the juice will make the rice want to stick.
Just as the liquid is all absorbed, add your cilantro, and keep stirring. Then add your liquid.
Despite adding liquid, your rice is still going to try and stick to the bottom of the pan, so keep stirring, and raise the heat to medium high. You want to bring the pan just to a boil. When it does, put your lid on it, and put it in the oven for thirty minutes at 350°.
If you don't have a grill, you're going to need to wait for your rice to finish cooking before moving back to your meat. However, if you do have a grill, and also importantly, a grill broiler pan, fire up your grill, and let it get nice and hot.
When it's nice and hot, put your pan on the grill.
Using a brush and the liquid you cooked the meat in, baste it often as it sits on the grill. You want to keep things nice and moist so that you don't dry out your meat while giving it that golden outside. Flip your meat often to ensure you baste both sides.
That right there is what you're looking for. A nice crispy outside, and moist / soft inside. If you're able to multitask, throw some refried beans on the stove, or your grill stove (if you have one), and warm those up to go with your tacos.
Call the family, and come hungry to this table!
You know what's up next, get you some, and get to digging in! As I was setting the table, I sliced up my avocado slices, and took out a jar of tomatillo to top these bad boys with.
Just looking at these photos makes me wish it was dinner time again!
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