Carnitas!

Dinner Monday night was the perfect opportunity to use our pressure cooker.  We got back from the grocery store with a pork roast and not a lot of time to cook it before we had to resort to eating our utensils.  As we munched on chips and salsa, our dinner cooked away in the hissing pot.


I'm always grateful I have Nick around to cut meat.  It's just one of those meal preparing jobs I hate doing.

The braising liquid the recipe called for was a delicious smelling mixture of lime juice, orange juice, an onion sliced in half, cumin, and two cups of water.  We were supposed to add oregano and bay leaves, but I mysteriously had run out of both.  Instead, I added ground coriander.  Seemed  close enough!

We pressure cooked everything for an hour

Once we opened the cooker, Nick removed the meat and other solids and I shredded the pork.

The great twist on these carnitas was turning the braising liquid into a syrup to flavor the pork even more.  I reduced and reduced and reduced.  It took almost fifteen minutes, but I was finally able to move a spatula through it and leave a trail.

I tossed the liquid with the pork and spread it out on a foil lined baking sheet with a wire rack.
Then, I stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes to get it crispy, flipped the pork over, and stuck it back under the broiler for another few minutes.

The result was amazingly crisp, juicy, flavorful pork with great flavor.  We enjoyed the pork in warm tortilla after warm tortilla, and of course topped with lots of yummy thing :)