Enjoying playing with my new Pressure Cooker from Kuhn Rikon, I can tell you that these carnitas were a big success with my wife and kids last night. I'll give you the low down on how I made it right here and I want you try it, and I want you to give me you variations as well as your response if you follow this recipe.
Carnitas are generally made by cooking pork slowly... oh so slowly. Well... we can quicken this process considerably by using a pressure cooker, and we don't lose a single bit of the magic. So the foundation of this recipe is the pressure cooked pork... 30 minutes... but the ingredients that go with it can obviously vary considerably. Below I have a recipe that is inspired by the Modernist Cuisine at Home book.
Ingredients
Pork Shoulder cut into small cubes - 3 lbs
Pork Stock - 2 cups (recipe is on the link)
Achiote Paste* (see note below) - 1 tablespoon
Chipotle chili powder - 1 teaspoon
*Achiote Paste can be store bought, or you can click on the link and find the recipe I used to make it myself.
Add the cubed meat and the stock to pressure cooker and heat till you get 1 red bar. Cook for 30 minutes, starting the timing when it reaches 1 bar. When it is done, open the pressure cooker (I put it in the sink and run room temperature water on it to depressurize it quickly) and strain the liquid into a separate pot. Add 1 tablespoon of the Achiote Paste and the Chiptotle powder, and cook on high for 25 minutes, stirring constantly.
The meat will come out perfectly cooked, tender beyond imagination.
NOTE: At this point, you have a rick stock which you can add any various seasonings too. This recipe uses the Achiote Paste and some chili powder, but there are hundreds of variations here that you can use.
Cooking the liquid on high for 25 minutes reduces the liquid to a thick syrup. At that point, add the meat back in and cook on high for 5-6 minutes.
They you are done! Season it as you see fit, with things like salt, lime, cilantro, chili powder, etc. We put the carnitas in warmed tortillas with a bit of salsa and sour cream and cheese.
RESULT: The meat was so tender, and it tasted so good by itself. It was really amazing. The whole thing with cheese in a tortilla was just as good. This recipe literally has the possibility of becoming a 5 star meal.
I do plan on trying the pressure cooker version with my Red Chili Rojo recipe which I have (but hasn't been blogged yet). Basically I would pressure cook the meat the same way (to make it tender) and the sauce would be more liquid with a straight Cumin / New Mexico Chili Paste. I think that might happen soon and I'll let you know how it turns out.
As always, your comments are welcome and desires, and so are variations!
No comments:
Post a Comment