5 Ingredients or Fewer

Low and Slow Cuban Adobo Pork Carnitas

January 31, 2018
2
1 Ratings
Photo by AntoniaJames
  • Serves 4 - 8, depending on appetites and what it's served with
Author Notes

Salt your meat the day before, chop a handful of herbs with garlic and some simple spices, toss everything together, cover your slow cooker, go live your life for 8 hours and so, and you’re good to go. One my top performers for return (great eating) - on - investment (time) over the years. I hope you like this. ;o)
AntoniaJames

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 ½ pounds / 1134 grams pork shoulder
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves, divided
  • 12 - 15 medium sage leaves
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Zest of one orange
  • Juice of 1 medium lime
  • For serving: tortillas, cilantro leaves, avocado, pickled onions, lime crema (1 tablespoon fresh lime juice to ½ cup sour cream, plus a pinch of salt) or regular sour cream, arugula, and/or anything else you like
Directions
  1. The night before (or up to 2 -3 days before) you plan to cook the meat, cut off any large bits of fat from its exterior and cut into 2” chunks. Sprinkle with the kosher salt, rub it all over, put it in a storage box or bag, and refrigerate until ready to use.
  2. When ready to cook, turn slow cooker up to high and put on the lid. Heat ½ cup of water to a boil.
  3. Meanwhile, chop 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano leaves with 10 sage leaves, and then, chop the garlic with them. Sprinkle on the cumin and allspice; toss lightly with your fingertips to combine.
  4. Put the pork into the slow cooker, sprinkle with the herbs, garlic and spices; grind over 10 or 12 turns of your black pepper mill, and toss the pork to distribute the herbs, spices and garlic.
  5. Pour ¼ cup of boiling water slowly into the bottom of the slow cooker. Fold a tea towel in half and set it over the slow cooker and then place the lid on top. (This will absorb some of the steam while the pork is cooking.)
  6. After 1/2 hour, turn the heat down to “Low.” Cook for 8 hours.
  7. Pour the accumulated liquid into a medium skillet; turn the heat up high. Coarsely chop and add to the skillet the remaining oregano and sage leaves; add the orange zest. Cook to reduce the liquid by about half. Add the lime juice and give it a good stir. Strain if you wish, or not. Cut the pork into bite-sized chunks and moisten with the sauce before serving.
  8. ;o)
Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • JanetFL
    JanetFL
  • Niknud
    Niknud
  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames
  • Myra
    Myra
AntoniaJames

Recipe by: AntoniaJames

See problem, solve problem. Ask questions; question answers. Disrupt, with kindness, courtesy and respect. ;o)

4 Reviews

Myra February 18, 2019
This recipe did not work well for me, I found it to be extremely dry. After cooking, there was maybe 1/2 cup of liquid left in the crock pot and I was not sure, how that was suppose to reduce down further and act as a sauce. The herbs were nice but I think if I made this again, I would add some onions and lime (or orange juice) at the begining and not use the tea towel. Perhaps the tea towel absorbed too much of the steam?
 
JanetFL February 6, 2018
Saved! This sounds amazing - thank you!
 
Niknud February 5, 2018
Sounds delicious - love the heavy hand with the sage.
 
AntoniaJames February 5, 2018
Thanks so much, Rachael! The other flavors in this are fairly bold, especially if you serve it with red onion pickles, so you need that extra sage to keep it from getting lost. ;o)