Carnitas

Recipe at a Glance

3 lbs pork butt
2 tbs kosher salt (more or less depending on how you cut your meat)
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cup water

This time of the year is always a bit crazy. It is the end of the semester for Chris so this means that dishes get washed with less frequency, deep dish pizza gets ordered more often, and there is little time to spend in the kitchen. Just prior to this year’s week of No Chris, he took me out to a date at Xoco, the taquiera-esque installation of the Frontera brand. Here we had the best Churros of our lives. They were  fresh, lightly dusted with cocoa, and served in batches of 3 – creating difficult compromises on a date.

Now that finals week has passed, much time is devoted to having a beer or two in celebration and reconnecting with friends that have been neglected in writing this paper or that. At the first barbecue of the year yesterday, Chris and I shared our recommendation for Xoco. One of Chris’s classmates mentioned that she had no idea what a churro was while another mentioned that she had no idea what horchata was. I immediately wanted to retreat into the safe confines of Homesick Texan where the chili never has beans and the salsa is always spicy.

Upon moving to Chicago, I obsessively searched out the best Tex-Mex and mexican food I could find. I knew the Midwest couldn’t be the flavorless tundra that it was rumored to be. I have since found the best taquiera, the best late-night burrito, the best mole, and now, the best churro to be found next to an elevated train line. I also found out this weekend, that not everyone is quite as enthusiastic as me at garnering that sort of information. And here is where I share a little secret, the first meal we had in Chicago, when our dishes were still in boxes, was at a nearby Taco Bell. (We have since never gone back.)

Today’s recipe is for Carnitas, otherwise know to me as the best easy-to-make, weeklong-lasting way to cook meat out there. Carnitas is braised pork cooked long enough to break down the fat and connective tissue of the pork butt, and then cooked at a slightly higher heat to crisp up the edges just slightly. I have usually seen carnitas served in a taco or sprinkled on nachos. At my house though, it has been served on top of a pizza, as part of a salad, or on a sandwich with BBQ sauce. Today though, we went with the traditional taco.