what's up you guys it's susie from heygrillhey.com and today i'm bringing you a recipe
for smoked pork carnitas perfect for eating with tacos on top of you know some nachos
with some beans and rice you guys are gonna love this one i'm gonna show you how to get it done
first step for our carnitas is the marinade this is very simple marinade citrus oil salt
and we're gonna let it sit overnight so i have an eight pound pork butt here i'm gonna be putting
this in my brining bucket but you can use any vessel that will hold a piece of meat this size
smaller pork butts i've even been able to do in like a gallon zip top bag
this one just wasn't quite big enough so we're gonna put the whole thing
into our vessel for marinating to that i'm going to add in two tablespoons of cooking oil
this is avocado oil you can use regular vegetable oil
kind of get that in there on all sides
then we're going to add in oops let's do this
okay then we're going to add in a tablespoon of coarse kosher salt
that we're going to squeeze in the juice of two limes and two of those small mandarin oranges
or one regular big sized orange big sized big size regular big size regular size larger large
and once all your juice is in you can just drop the halves of your citrus in there pop the lid on
stick this in the refrigerator for 12 hours usually i do this the night before i plan to
smoke it get it in the marinade let it do its thing overnight with all that salt and citrus
and then tomorrow morning we'll be ready to smoke and i just flipped it over so the
meat side was on the bottom sitting against all of that citrus and salt
lid on to the fridge we go we'll see you tomorrow
day two our pork carnitas are out of the fridge it's time to take it out of the marinade
and season it already smells awesome all of that citrus and salt and with that pork
now we're just gonna hit it with a really delicious carnitas inspired pork seasoning
our pork seasoning is a homemade spice blend we have in this bottle that i am about to shake up
a tablespoon of brown sugar two teaspoons of kosher salt two teaspoons of coarse ground
black pepper a teaspoon of chili powder a teaspoon of garlic powder a teaspoon of onion powder and
then we have a half a teaspoon of cumin of mexican oregano of cinnamon and of ground chipotle peppers
i think i got them all okay
take our seasoning on all sides of our pork butt make sure you get all the time and then once you
get a layer on there go ahead and press it in with your hand it smells awesome the chipotles in here
already give it a little bit of smokiness a little bit of heat getting the herbiness
from the oregano and then the cinnamon is kind of like the sneaker seasoning in this pork seasoning
and it is bomb this should be just enough to cover one pork butt entirely and this is going on our
preheated smoker 225 degrees for the next five to six hours we're looking to get our pork shoulder
to an internal temperature of 165 degrees and then we'll move on to our braising step
our pork butt hit 165 it took about five and a half hours now it's time for our braising step
i've cranked the heat on my pellet smoker to 350 degrees or you can do this step in your oven
we're going to top it with about a half a cup of vegetable oil and this is going to add moisture
during the braising process but we're also going to reserve all the liquid when this is
done cooking and the fat in here is going to help us crisp the edges to get that classic carnitas
texture we're also going to put in two bay leaves across the top tightly wrap it with foil
and pop it back into that 350 degree smoker that looks good at 350 degrees this is going to take
another two to three hours we're looking for an internal temperature on the pork shoulder
of anywhere between 200 and 203 degrees fahrenheit you want your thermometer to slide
in and out of this roast like it's softened butter
pork's been going 350 degrees for the last three and a half
nearly four hours i think we're up to temperature it's about ready to come off
our temperature was right at about 202 to 203 degrees but more importantly my thermometer probe
slid in and out of that pork like it was softened butter just what we're looking for now we need
to let this rest at room temperature for about an hour and then we can crisp it up and give it that
classic carnitas texture we have a beautifully rested roast now it is time to shred our pork
and get it nice and crispy we're just gonna break into this pork with our tongs and you see this
beautiful liquid in the bottom that's part of the oil that we poured on top but it's also some of
the rendered fat from our pork and we're gonna use that as the fat in our pan to crisp our carnitas
i'm going to preheat my cast iron pan over medium high heat so that's what i'm going to do
now get yourself some of this rendered pork fat
look at that that is liquid gold and this is what's going into our hot cast iron pan
oh my goodness now i recommend keeping as much of your pork butt whole as you can until you're
ready to shred and crisp that makes it perfect for leftovers or if you want to use it the next
day super easy just reheat it in that pan in the fat get these crispy edges use it for
huevos rancheros with eggs in the morning put it in some tortillas for tacos these
make delicious quesadillas nachos burritos like anywhere you would normally use some pulled pork
this stuff is the best i'm just gonna enjoy mine a little street taco style
with some fresh cilantro a squeeze of lime some fresh onion would be awesome in here
look at that
you get the crisp from searing in that cast iron skillet and then all of the flavor of the smoke
and that dry rub we put on there it's perfectly balanced incredibly flavorful
you guys are gonna dig this recipe i hope you give it a try at home if you do
take a photo post it online use the hashtag #heygrillhey that way i can see it and cheer you on on
your journey to becoming a backyard barbecue hero that's what it's all about you guys