PORK CARNITAS (MEXICAN SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK)

1. If you are using a piece of pork that is more than 1 lb/0.5 kg larger or smaller than the prescribed size, ensure you adjust the other ingredients accordingly.2. To make this in the oven, add 1cup of water to the braising liquid. Place in 325F/160C oven for 2hours, covered, then roast for a further 1 to 1.5hours uncovered. Add more water if the liquid dries out too much. You should end up with 1 1/2 to 2cups of liquid when it finishes cooking.If you make this recipe in the oven, you could skip the pan frying step because you will get a nice brown crust on your pork.3. Use pork with the skin removed but leaving some of the fat cap on. The fat adds juiciness to the carnitas!
4. Taco Fixing suggestions: Diced avocado or make a real proper Guacamole, Pico de Gallo or Restaurant Style Salsa or even just sliced tomato, grated cheese, sour cream. Sliced lettuce or pickled cabbage/red onions would also be great, but unlike other tacos, you don’t need it for the texture because the carnitas have the crispy bits!
5. MAKE AHEAD:
a) For overnight or up to 3days, the best option is to shred the meat without pan frying, keep the juices separate, refrigerate, then pan fry to make it golden and reheat the meat, pouring juices over while it is browning per recipe.
b) To brown the meat ahead, the meat actually holds up pretty well in terms of staying crispy. It’s even pretty good refrigerated overnight – but a) is definitely better. Keep the juices separate and pour it over just before reheating the pork. You can reheat in the microwave, quickly reheat in the pan or if you have loads, in a foil covered roasting pan in the oven at 180C/350F for around 8–10minutes.
c) To FREEZE: This holds up great in the freezer. Pour the juices over the pulled pork [pre browning] and store in ziplock bags or airtight containers. Freeze in small batches for convenience.To use, defrost completely before following the recipe to brown the pork.