Sí Cervezas y Carnitas!

Pork carnitas is perhaps one of my favorite Mexican dishes. There are numerous recipes out there for carnitas, and my old standby has always involved using the slow-cooker, which, I have to say, makes it a super easy dish to make. But I recently came across one where a dutch oven (and the actual oven) is used and I decided to try it.

The basic recipe I used, with a few minor adjustments of my own, was found here.  
If you've never made carnitas before, or don't know what it is, basically, it's just spice rubbed pork (usually loin or butt), which is cooked with some liquid until it's tender and easily pulls apart. 

One of the most appealing things about this recipe was that the pork was seared (on the stove top) on each side first, which usually seals in the juices and flavor. It can also give the pork a nice crust on the outside adding texture.

The pork searing in the pan.

After the pork is seared, you remove it from the pot and deglaze the pan with liquid (and then add the pork back in and cook it in the oven for a couple hours). This recipe was also a little different than my usual because it has beer in it (mmm... beer) along with fresh orange juice. I usually make mine with pineapple juice, chicken broth/stock, and fresh orange juice. My favorite beer to have with Mexican (and perhaps my favorite beer) is Negra Modelo, so that's what I choose to use for the beer in the recipe. 
 
Her recipe calls for 12 oz of beer, but I split it with chicken broth (6 oz of beer and 6 oz of broth)... that way I had something to sip on while I was cooking. ;) Also, though her recipe didn't call for it, I added about 3 whole garlic cloves, a roughly chopped onion, and a bay leaf to the pot for a little more flavor.

It was one tasty orange--I almost regretted sacrificing it for its juice.

The recipe says to cook the pork for a half an hour with the lid on at 350°. And then without the lid for an hour and a half--turning the pork every half hour. I didn't have quite as much pork as her recipe called for (3 lbs, I had 1.75). So I cut the total time to just under 1.5 hours, and turned the pork every 20 minutes.

When I took it out of the oven to pull-apart, I struggled a bit. It didn't seem to be as tender as when I cook it in the slow cooker, but I admit, I cut some of the fat off of the pork before cooking it even though her recipe said not to... so that may be partly why (there was not enough fat to melt into the meat and make it more tender).

However, the flavor and texture were still out-of-this-world!

Though usually served as tacos--I figured I could forgo the tortillas and served the carnitas with shredded lettuce, fresh chopped grape tomatoes, diced avocado, salsa verde, sour cream, and lime wedges.

I have to say it was really freaking good. It was one of those things I was so happy to have leftovers from. My taste-tester and friend, Andrea, was even quoted as saying, "the flavor is outrageous!" Well... she might not have said that exactly, but it was close.

So, sooooooo good.

One of the appealing aspects of this recipe was that it is an all-in-one-pot dish, which is usually why I prefer using the slow-cooker. But I am thinking that the next time I try this I could just go through with all the steps (searing the pork and deglazing the pan with beer, etc.), but instead of popping it in the oven, I could just put everything in the crock pot and set it on high for 3 hours. It might make the pork fall apart a little easier, and since my kitchen is relatively small, keep my kitchen from getting to be 100°.  Either way, I'll be making this again.