(Because I told you I would share it and I’m not a liar and pressure cookers are so trendy right now)
OK pals (as if there were more than one of you reading this. I’m adorable and hilarious), last week I promised you this recipe. Remember? I made it in the pressure cooker because it was too hot to use the stove and I topped it with those gorgeous pickled onions I shared with you? No? yeah will I did so there!
For those of you who are not in the know (like me before my recipe research… and quite frankly in most aspects of life), Pork Carnitas is basically pulled pork with Mexican seasoning. My guests ate them in taco form. I ate it on top of a salad (they obviously win, but my salad was amazing too so stop with your judgment. I’m a food blogger who’s afraid of carbs! It’s not natural I know. We must accept it and move on kids… also I NEED to stop calling myself a “food blogger” because that’s SO annoying...).
SO let me shut up about what I made and tell you how I made it.
Here is what you will need:
-3 Tbsp. Olive oil (2 for the marinade and 1 for the cooking. Brace yourselves kiddos there’s a lot of dividing here. It’s worth the math I promise. And since I think math is stupid, that’s saying something).
-3 Tbsp. Chili Powder (2 for the marinade and 1 for cooking! Hmmmmm…).
-3 Tbsp. Cumin (2 for the marinade and 1 for cooking. Yup there it is again).
-3 Tbsp. Dried oregano (2 for the marinade and 1 for throwing over your shoulder for good luck… no? OK you guessed it, 1 for cooking).
-4 Tsp. salt (half and half here kids. 2 for the marinade 2 for the cooking. Sounds like a lot, but when braising in liquid you need to over season. You may even find you need to add more at the end).
-1 Tsp. Chili flakes (or crushed red pepper or whatever the hell the jar says… and you know you’re splitting that shit up as well).
-2 Tsp. Garlic powder (and you know that’s also split up).
-2 tbsp. Minced garlic (and yes. We’re gonna split this noise up too because we’re redundant like that).
-1 small onion (minced. Like super small. Like in the food processor because you have one now… OH! And this is for the marinade only!!!).
-1 bottle of Coke-a-cola (the cane sugar or Mexican kind. It comes in a glass bottle and is super fancy. But if you don’t have this pretentious ingredient, regular is fine too… and I yes I know I sound like an Ina Garten meme but I love her so I don’t care! Just don’t use diet. We need the sugar this time around. Aspartame is just NOT gonna cut the mustard in this one. … also where the hell did that phrase come from anyway. Is It hard to cut mustard greens? Ugh my head hurts).
-3 Limes (this is pretty straight forward. but yes. Yes, they are divided. …. Divided limes... another good band name).
NOTE: We’re using the juice of 2 and a half of these and the other half is gonna be garnish because we love garnish. … … … and it doesn’t have to be garnish for the pork. I won’t be mad at you if you garnish your cocktail instead.
-2 Oranges (Juice only. And this is not being divided! These are unity oranges!).
Oh! I almost forgot!!!
-1 pork shoulder (or pork butt which just seems crass…) cut into 1 inch cubes.
OK! I think that’s everything. I know it’s a lot. I like to think you have a well-stocked spice cabinet and you won’t have to run out and buy everything. IF you do… I’m not realllly sorry because now you DO have a well-stocked spice cabinet. You are welcome.
Let’s start with our marinade.
Place your cubed pork (hehehe that sounds ridiculous) in a large zip top bag.
In the same zip top bag add (get ready because I’m gonna rattle it all off right this moment) 2 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. chili powder, 2 tbsp. cumin, 2 tbsp. oregano, 2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. pepper, ½ tsp. chili flake, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tbsp. minced garlic, the juice of half a lime aaaaaaand 1 small minced onion.
PHEW I’m exhausted
Here we go.
Close the top of your zip top back and smooooooosh all of those ingredients making sure you cover your meat (which is an important practice in all of life really).
Marinate for at least 2 hours. The longer the better (That's what she said... sorry had to...).
OK, the next steps can either be done in your electric pressure cooker (which you should have by now because they are friggen magical) OR the slow cooker.
NOTE: the slow cooker is gonna take like 8 hours. The pressure cooker is gonna take an hour… sooooooo yeah. You decide.
In your pressure cooker (or a pan on the stove top if you’re slow cooking like a turtle), heat the remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil.
In batches (because patience is a virtue… that I don’t realty possess but pretend to so that I can hold it over people), brown the cubes of pork on all sides.
Once all the pork is brown return all the pork and marinade into the pressure cooker (OR add to that slow cooker of yours).
Pour in the fancy Mexican coke, the juice of 2 oranges, the juice of 2 limes ANNNND all of the following: 1 tbsp. chili powder, 1 tbsp. cumin, 1 tbsp. oregano, 2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. pepper, ½ tsp. chili flake (or red pepper flake or whatever they call it), 1 tsp. garlic powder and 1 tbsp. minced garlic (PHEW I’m out of breath!) over the pork.
Place the lid on and lock it (If you’re using that pesky slow cooker place on high and walk away for 6-8 hours) set the pressure cooker to high pressure and the timer to 60 minutes, and walk away.
NOTE: this take a teensy bit longer than an hour because it has to come to pressure and I like it to depressurize on its own (but you could just release the pressure when it’s done and it will be perfectly tender (a word I truly hate because it just makes me so uncomfortable).
Remove the pork from the pressure cooker (or slow cooker) and shred with two forks (or tongs or whatever because you’re your own person).
Change the pressure cooker setting to simmer (or pour the cooking liquid into a pan) and reduce by half (about 10 minutes on high heat).
Taste the pork and adjust any seasoning you see fit.
Add about half the cooking liquid back to the pork (not all because we don’t want soggy pork. I mean that just sounds offensive… it will also drip out of your taco… which also sounds offensive. So let’s just hold back on the liquid here.).
NOTE: I saved the left over liquid and added it to the leftovers so keep it from drying out. Dry pork is almost as offensive. Basically we have to have balanced pork. The end.
Serve on tortillas like the cool kids with no carb-o-phobia do. Serve on a salad like this sad lady did.
The possibilities are endless and the choice is all yours!!!!
Don’t forget to add those amazing and expertly made pickled onions.
(the recipe for which can be found here! https://www.thecondescendingcontrolfreak.com/thecondescendingcontrolfreak/quick-pickled-onions ).
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