Carnitas

I love carnitas. And I love Chipotle carnitas. This recipe is a pretty darn good replica of what they produce. Original recipe is from Culinary Hill- they have a LOT of Chipotle recipes and I intend to try them all. If you love Chipotle, go to their site and give them your email address so you can get their free Chipotle recipe book.

This my version adapted from their site since they don’t specify some quantities and if I don’t document what I did when I made it, I’ll never remember. This easily makes three dinners, 4-5 if we use it as taco filler instead of just meat on the plate. It freezes well too. I usually crisp it up in a pan when we have left overs….soooooo good. I use 5 lb pork shoulder because I prefer to make it once and then freeze leftovers and because I order my meat from Amazon Fresh and this is the only quantity in which they offer pork shoulder. If using a smaller portion of pork, just adjust everything down a bit. You really can’t mess this up.

What you need:

• 5lb pork shoulder
• 2-3 sprigs Thyme, preferably fresh
• 3 tsp whole Juniper Berries (I had to order from Amazon – no local stores carry them. I know what you’re thinking, but get the juniper berries. Just do it.)
• 3 bay leaves
  1 TBSP salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper (fresh ground not required, but I think it’s worth it for this recipe)
• 3/4 cup water

What to do:
Mix the salt and pepper together and rub all over the pork. Add the water to your slow cooker, then put in the pork, bay leaves, juniper berries and thyme. Cook on low 8-10 hours or high for 6 until the pork shreds easily.