Yum Peaceful Cooking: Haitian Carnitas

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Haitian Carnitas



Haitian Carnitas? Do they even make carnitas in Haiti?

Hell, I dunno. But it sounds intriguing, doesn't it? If they don't, they should. If they do....kudos!

Now I don't cook pork very often. Some cuts are a little pricey. Some cuts are a little ...I dunno....weird? (you will never....eveeeeeeeer see pickled pork feet in my kitchen....just sayin).

When I see pork chops, I think...(I know...this is bad!!!) shake-n-bake.

When I see pork butt, I think.....CARNITAS!!!!

When I was looking for some haitian dishes for the BakeSpace forum challenge, I came across a few that caught my attention. Since I couldn't make up my mind...I went with all of them. This is recipe #2 (there's still one more that I need to post). The first recipe was my Mango Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze. Which was another haitian inspired dish but not truly authentic.

Which brings me back to my Haitian Carnitas. The recipe called for pork loin. I had a pork butt that I wanted to use....and well, that led me to a nice alteration with fantastic results. Flavorful, tender... succulent....and a hint of heat (although you can turn up that heat if you want by added more peppers)

Haitian Carnitas

(Printable Version)

6 lbs pork shoulder (aka butt)
1 large onion, chopped
3 oz chopped shallots
1 cup orange juice
12 oz beer
1/4 teaspoon dried savory or thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 hot red pepper, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 - 2 tablespoon creole seasoning
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 or more jalapenos, minced
2 teaspoons chicken bullion

Preheat the oven to 250' F

Combine the savory (or thyme), salt and pepper, cumin, and creole seasoning. Rub the pork with the mixture. Place the pork in a large roasting pan. Add the, shallots, peppers, orange juice, beer and chicken bullion.

Cover and cook for a good 7 hours.

When the meat is done....and falls off the bone




let cool a bit then remove the bone and as much fat as you can. (In case you haven't noticed....this particular cut of pork is full of fat. Hmmm...maybe THATS why they call it "pork butt"), leaving the liquid in the roasting pan.

Heat a good sized skillet with a bit of oil and brown the chunks of meat. Remove the meat and set aside. While this is happening, skim as much fat as you can from the saved liquid that's still in the roasting pan. Heat the liquid and reduce....the more the reduce, the more flavor it will have. Add about 2 cups of the liquid to the skillet where you browned the meat and de-glaze the pan.


Pour liquid over meat and serve.



I couldn't serve carnitas, haitian or otherwise, without pico de gallo, guacamole, rice and a warm tortilla



Let's just say..... TASTE BUD HEAVEN!


I am submitting this recipe to Regional Recipes, hosted by Joanne at Eats Well With Others. Regional Recipes is "a blogging event that celebrates food from all over the world!" Her deadline for the Haitian recipes is April 30th, 2010....so there's still time to play too!

14 comments:

  1. Looks wonderful, this dish is new to me. I love the idea of crisping up the slow roasted meat, yummm!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These look fantastic! Then again, I love anything that involves slow roasted pork.

    You should submit this to my regional recipes: haiti blog event! It woudl be perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm gonna try this for sure this summer. I've been looking for an alternative to our usual smoked pork. Maybe I'll use this as a marinade and save some of the mixture for the carnitas for leftovers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love carnitas. How clever to do it with a Haitian twist.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice, I can practically taste them. Good stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mouth-watering! I have been looking for Haitian recipes and didn't see anything like this! These rock!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh... My.... Goodness. This looks so divine!

    ReplyDelete
  8. did tastespotting take that first photo? if they didn't, they're fools because it is GORGEOUS. the colors, the obvious moistness. lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now don't be hasty! My mother made pickled pigs feet all the time and it was delicious. I wouldn't eat it now because of the calories, but if someone put her recipe in front of me, I couldn't resist it!

    Yummy recipe and superb photos!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Brownieville - Oh I hope you get a chance to make this...it really is tasty

    Joanne - Ooooh, I didn't realize you were having a blog event! I will head right over there and submit it. Thanks :)

    DD - I was going to use it as a marinade then changed my mind....the roast wasn't defrosted in time and I dunno, I just didnt do it the night before like I wanted and well....it ended up as this LOL

    Bonnie - I really liked the haitian flavors that were added

    Bob - I can imagine some of the sandwiches you could come up with for this meat

    Cinnamon - Well...This recipe was suppose to be Glazed and Braised Pork....look that up and see what you think :)

    Moogie - Thanks you :)

    Grace - I just submitted the photo tonight...so we'll see if it gets accepted. They really are picky....but I know I have "lighting" issues but not ALL my pictures are lacking in "composition" humph LOL

    Barbara - hahaha...I knew I'd catch someone who liked those pigs feet!!!! It's probably more of a mental thing than anything else

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just an FYI...tastespotters declined this picture because it's not sharp :\. do that want the background to be sharp too? ugh. Foodgawker has yet to except any of my photos...even the 2 that tastespotting accepted.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Danielle, this recipe is incredible! I am a student at the University of Georgia and a recent food blogger. I plan on featuring you in my next post about food blogs I love. I am charmed by your silly personality and your recipes are just wonderful. I just thought I would let you know, and please, keep the posts coming! Happy cooking!

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOW...my husband would love this recipe!

    On the Pickled Pig's Feet..one of my Mom's favorite snacks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. YUM! How could anyone not love this? Loving the Haiti/Mexico fusion.

    ReplyDelete

I apologize for having to use the word verification but you know how spammers are. All comments with links will be treated as spam. Thank you for visiting. I will do my best to return the visit.
Cheers!