Carnitas question for Michael in Phoenix or other carnita experts

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Lar is still fascinated with "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and recently saw a carnitas recipe demonstrated at Los Taquitos in Phoenix.

One of the owners prepared the pork with Guy. The bizarre ingredient was a "can of condensed milk". I'm thinking it should be "evaporated" milk (which is a condensed product), but she definitely says "condensed" so I have to wonder if it actally is the sweetened product.

Lar wants to try this and I'm having serious issues about wasting a big chunk of pork on a portential error. Is there any background information about traditional Mexican carnitas that would support a "sweet" ingredient?

Here's the recipe from Los Taquitos and a link to their restaurant.

Canitas

Ingredients

1 pork butt (bone in, ~5 lbs)

1 entire bulb of garlic, (cut the tops off to expose the garlic)

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 can Coke

2 cinnamon sticks (about 3" each)

salt (no amount given)

Cut off some of the top fat, then cut up the pork butt into about 4 pieces (leaving the bone in) and put the pieces in the bottom of a dutch oven.

Pour the canned milk, Coke, cinnamon sticks, garlic and salt. Add a little bit of water, not so much that the meat is covered, but so the liquid is 1/2 to the top of the meat.

Cover and simmer on medium-low for 2 hours.

http://www.ltgrill.com/

 
Here's the recipe I use for carnitas, and it is really good. Not sweet, tho. I'll ask my amigo Cam.

GREENMARKET CARNITAS

Greenmarket at Union Square, NYC

Time to prepare, about 2 ½ hours
Makes 6 cups

2 pounds smoked pork shank, rinsed
2 pounds fresh pork shank, rinsed
2 medium Spanish onions, peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
oil for baking dish
2 jalapeños, or more to taste, seeded and minced
1 small Spanish onion, chopped

In a large stockpot, combine meat, the 2 halved onions, garlic cumin, oregano, cilantro, salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and just enough water to cover the shanks.

Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until meat begins to fall off the bone, 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Remove from heat, and let cool slightly. Reserve one cup of the cooking liquid, and transfer the shanks to a large pan. Pull meat from the bones, shredding some of it, but leaving some in chunks. Discard the bones. Transfer the meat to a large bowl. Moisten it with some or all of the reserved cooking liquid. At this point, meat may be served as a main dish with tortillas and beans on the side, or as a topping for a salad.

To make the carnitas, heat the oven to 425°. Oil a baking dish large enough to hold the meat in a layer about 1 inch deep. Fold jalapeños and chopped onion into meat, spreading the mixture evenly in the pan. Bake until surface begins to turn crispy in spots, 20 to 30 minutes. Use as a filling for tacos or burritos.

June 2005

 
That recipe sounds more like a pulled pork or bbq pork recipe to me.

I use the same one that Michael uses and there is no sweetness to it. The recipe that you posted reminds me of that bbq crockpot pork recipe that uses a can of soda. It is good but not carnitas. Here is the link to Michael's carnitas recipe and here is the one that I use. I am not sure if I have the right Michael credited in my recipe.


* Exported from MasterCook *

CARNITAS

Recipe By :Sunset/Michael in Denver
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Pork

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

5 pounds pork shoulder -- left whole,
bone-in, but trimmed of large pieces of
fat and rind
1 large yellow onion -- peeled, quartered
1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
2 tsp. dry oregano leaves
2 bay leaves
water

Place all ingedients into a 6 to 8 quart stock pot. Pour in enough water to just cover the meat. Heat to a boil, reduce to a slow simmer, cover and allow to cook until meat easily
shreds with two forks. This takes somewhere between 3 and 5 hours. Add more boiling
water, as necessary, to keep meat covered.Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove meat from the stock pot and place in a large 13" x 9" roasting pan. (Reserve broth for Albondigas). Gently pull meat apart, discarding excess fat, bone and any connective tissue. Meat should be in small to medium-size chunks, spread out in the pan. Bake, uncovered, in the 450 degree oven until the meat is browned and sizzling hot, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place meat on warmed platter and serve.

Michael's note: The meat makes an excellent entree by itself, but our habit is to use it as an absolutely
fantastic filling for burritos, tacos, tortas, and a topping for tostadas. Excellent with fresh salsa, sour cream, white or yellow cheeses, etc.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What is and where do you find a smoked pork shank?

Is it fresh or is it like a ham? I have never heard of that before, but I think your recipe sounds really good.

 
It is a ham hock actually, from the pictures I saw on the Web. The showed exactly what I buy at our

local meat shop. They have large smoked ham hocks with tons of meat on them

 
My dad, a retired butcher, says to get the smoked ham shank not the hock. I would, but I never>>

can find them, only the hocks. He prefers the shanks because they have more meat instead of gristly stuff.

 
Gotta add my 2 cents - my VERY favorite carnitas recipe >>

Another one that you cook all day... one of my favorites.

Pork Carnitas by Marissa

This smells heavenly when you come in the door at the end of the day.

6-7 lb. bone-in pork butt or shoulder roast
large can tomatillos (10 oz?)**
1 large onion, sliced
2 tsp. garlic minced
1/2 tsp. cumin seed (don’t use powdered - it is very different)
salt & pepper
3 large dried ancho chilies, seeded & cut up (the bags of dried chilies are usually near the vegetable aisle)

** if you are lucky enough to buy fresh tomatillos (you'll need about 6), remove papery husk, cut in large pieces and simmer in a bit of water until soft. Drain and use in place of canned.

Put the pork roast on a large piece of foil in a roasting pan. Top with all the ingredients and wrap up tightly. Bake at 300 deg. for about 6-7 hours -- or turn it down to 275 deg. and cook while you’re out for the day.
Cool slightly and shred up the meat. Spread it out on a large baking sheet. Remove the fat from pan juices and push the juices through a sifter - pour this over the meat. Roast at 400 deg. for 30 minutes to dry and slightly brown the pork shreds.
This is a good party dish - Serve with flour tortillas or taco shells, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, shredded lettuce, etc. for people to assemble their own.
Leftovers can be frozen.

http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=60733

 
Then my guess is that our meat place is really selling the ham shank, which I have never heard of

but they look exactly as the pictures I saw on a google search, and they are loaded with meat.

 
Marilyn - I found another site that said be sure to use "evaporated milk" - NOT the sweetened stuff!

 
and here is another posting for Los Taquitos carnitas >>

The Carnitas was an inspiration from watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. They featured Los Taquitos in Chandler and the way they made their pork was with cola and evaporated milk…well, this sounded delightful so I had to test it out in my kitchen. Here is my own version of their pork carnitas.

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Pork Butt – Any size between 8-12lbs

1 Can of Coke

1 Can Evaporated Milk

2 Cinnamon Sticks

1 tsp of each of the following – Nutmeg, Cumin, Oregano and Chili Flakes

4 Crushed Garlic Cloves

2 Bay Leaves

1 Orange – The Rind and Juice

2 Tbsp Chicken Base

Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a separate bowl mix evaporated milk, cola, nutmeg, cumin, oregano, chili flakes, chicken base, orange zest and juice from 1 orange, crushed garlic, salt and pepper.

Put Pork Butt in the Slow Cooker. Add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Pour marinade over the pork butt and put lid on slow cooker. Put slow cooker onto the lowest setting and let it cook for 8-10 hours.

When cooking is done, take out of slow cooker and shred with a fork and put a little bit of the cooking liquid on the shredded pork to stay moist. Serve immediately as a taco or burrito with either corn or flour tortillas.

 
Definitely the evaporated milk, not sweet. I have Mexican neighbors who have told me that is what

they use. It helps in the browning.

There are so many variations. I use beer, orange juice and water. I simmer pork shouler until tender, then remove the meat and reduce the juices until they are mostly fat, and pour over the meat and refrigerate.

The next day the whole wad is thrown into a very hot skillet to fry until brown. Then, finally, it is drained of some excess fat.

A whole other approach: Diane Kennedy has a recipe where the pork is poached in regular milk, orange and herbs and simmered until all the liquid evaporates and one hears a frying sound. Then the heat is turned up and the meat is fried until crispy. I tried it and most of the crispiness stuck to the pan.

Whatever the recipe, the pork is simmered slowly until tender, then fried until crisp before serving. Definitely not diet food, especially with corn tortillas and guacamole!

 
Michael, please, if you discover they fry the carnitas in the conventional way, let us know.

All these recipes seem to be missing that last step.

For the record, I think using milk is cheating a little.

 
I don't have it handy but I remember the carnitas recipe from Ninfa's in the

Great Chefs of the Southwest cookbook adds a little milk (regular) to the meat & lard to assist the browning. I'll look it up when I get a chance.

 
I remember the street vendors in Tijuana used to keep browned chunks of pork...

...covered in foil on a warm area of their grill. When a carnitas taco or burrito was ordered they would grab a chunk of pork and move it to the hot side. They'd hack it up into smaller pieces and slather some lard onto the meat and fry it on the grill until it was crispy, which really only took a minute or two. It would then be scooped onto the tortilla and served.

Great stuff, but you might as well go ahead and put a clothes pin on your aorta.

Michael

 
I love that show. I really do. But sometimes I think Guy overdoes it a bit with food...

...that really isn't as good as he makes it out to be.

Maybe it's just a matter of personal taste, but I've eaten in a couple of his "dives, etc." and I didn't oooooo, ooooooh, and aaaaaah like he did. Decent food, but not worthy of a swoon.

Imagine a TV show where actors overreact. What's the world coming to?

Michael

 
Should add, that sadly, we lost Foodnetwork and HGTV in 2010; something to do with the cablevision.

Miss it!~ Even though I did not watch often, and sometimes only used it as background "noise," I enjoyed knowing I could watch it....Now looking for "cooking shows" on the radio that can go through the internet....

 
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