The Best Carnitas EVER!

I love carnitas. They are not something I make too often, because they are fried, but when I do make them they are something that is really special. For those of you who have only seen carnitas on a menu, they can be made a variety of ways. Carnitas basically means “little pieces of meat” and while they can be made with various cuts of meat (beef or pork) they are most often made using pork butt or shoulder. Some cooks like my friend’s mother when I was growing up in Southern California brown the chunks of pork in lard and then finish them off in the oven, others of the more banal variety cut up chunks of pork and simmer or braise them for a very long time until they resemble pulled pork. There are several kinds of rubs or marinades people use for flavor enhancements, but quite frankly nothing can be substituted for really long slow cooked smoked flavor and a finish in a bath of lard. You can use canola oil with excellent results, but lard ads another element of deliciousness.

Now, before you start ranting about how awful lard is for us, take some time to do some research. My blog on how to render lard is a good place to start. You never want to buy a solid white chunk or tub of lard, that has been processed & hydrogenated and it is as bad for you as Crisco. Home rendered lard is pure as the driven snow. And in this recipe, I only lost 1 tablespoon of lard in the cooking process… meaning that the pork was already cooked and therefore did not absorb much of the lard. Of course there was already some fat in the pork, as pork shoulder is a well-marbled piece of meat. And because it had already been through the smoking and braising process, much of the fat was extruded from the pork.

This recipe came about when I tried to recreate the taste of some carnitas I had eaten in Mexico when I went to cooking school there. I still kept the flavor profile in my mind after all of these years and decided to just go for it.

If you do not have a smoker, you can simply braise your pork, even try adding some liquid smoke in the braising liquid. If you do have a smoker, you want to smoke the pork low and slow. A pork shoulder is not a small piece of meat, so you can proceed with this process and use some of the pork for other dishes like pulled pork BBQ sandwiches. Or you can add shredded pork and wild mushrooms to reduced veal stock for a pork ragu. I cooked the pork and after braising pulled it and put it in tubs in the refrigerator to use for various things. There is just enough left to make one more batch of carnitas J.


You can look here to see my blog post from Manhattan on making home made tortillas. 

Here is the recipe which I think you will find very easy, even though the cooking time is spread out over two days, the actual working time is not much at all:

• Pierce a boneless pork butt and fill the slots with garlic cloves cut in half. Take your favorite rub or even just salt and pepper and rub all over the pork butt. Place in a smoker on low heat (225) for 8 hours.
• Remove the pork from the smoker and refrigerate overnight. In the morning place the meat in a crock pot on a layer of potatoes, carrots and onions. If you do not have a crockpot, this can be done in the oven. Pour 2 bottles of root beer over the meat. The liquid should come up to the half way mark on the meat. If you need to add more, do so. Cover the pan and cook on low (250) for another 7-8 hours. Remove the meat from the pot and allow to cool.
• Using two forks pull apart the meat. At this point it should almost fall apart. Choose how much you want to use for Carnitas and refrigerate the remaining meat for other uses such as pulled pork sandwiches.
• Prepare all side dishes, garnishes and tortillas before frying the carnitas. I made homemade tortillas (but you can buy and grill some), guacamole, chopped cilantro and onions and carrots en escabeche. Another common garnish is radishes and lime. I also had some salsa verde that I used on the beans and carnitas.
• Just before serving, heat lard or oil in a deep pan to 350 degrees. You will need about 2” of oil or lard and it will be discarded after cooking. In small batches, drop in the meat with a slotted spoon or spider. Cook for one minute and then flip over and cook for another. When the meat starts to get a caramel brown coating, remove it and drain on a rack. Continue on until you have cooked all of the meat. Serve immediately. J
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Pomegranate & Blueberry Sourdough Pancakes

Pomegranate Arils, Blueberries and Sourdough Starter… and suddenly there were pancakes! This recipe was one that simply came about out of happenstance. Those are usually the best kind.

After working diligently on my sourdough starter for the last several weeks, I am always trying to find new uses for it, as it needs to be fed daily and that means, “Use it or lose it” (More on my sourdough project and how you can make your own starter here). The starter must be divided daily (or better yet twice daily) and fed unless refrigerated to continue yeast production. This leaves me with about 1 ½ cups of starter every day. I have been baking different shapes of sourdough bread and experimenting with various kinds of flours and baking methods. I have used the starter in various recipes, batter for squash blossoms and pancakes are among the things I have found joy in creating. I no longer need recipes, I know the texture I need for bread and those needed for other things. And so Sunday morning I decided to whip up a batch of pancakes.

I had blueberries in the fridge, but only a handful. I had just harvested the arils from three pomegranates and put them in a bag. Generally from October to February I use the arils in a variety of ways, eating out of hand, in salads and my favorite way, in a glass of bubbly champagne.

It was a natural course of experimentation that brought me to wonder how the arils would do in the pancakes. Here is how I made them (keep in mind these amounts are approximations, I did no measuring):

1 ½ cups Sourdough Starter

1-1/2 cups bread flour

¾ cup of milk or buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

½ teaspoon of salt

Whisk all together and allow to sit for 15 minutes, you may need to adjust the amount of liquid or flour to make a nice batter. I do a small test pancake to see if the batter is the right consistency. Sourdough pancakes are usually not thick, but you do not want them too thin either, especially if you are adding fruit. 

Test Pancake

Heat a griddle and spray with non-stick spray

When the griddle is hot enough for water to bounce off of, you are ready to do the pancakes. You will need to work quickly. So have a warming drawer or a very low heated oven ready to hold the pancakes as you take them off of the griddle.

Pour about ½ cup of batter onto the griddle in one corner and again in another corner.

Onto each pancake add some blueberries and then fill in the spaces with pomegranate arils. Wait till tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the batter (about 1 minute) and flip carefully. Cook another minute and then lift a corner of a pancake to see how it is browning. It should be golden brown in some spots. If it is, flip it back over and then inspect the pancake to be sure it is done in the middle. Remove to the warming platter.

Serve with maple syrup and butter.

Notes: If you do not want to make sourdough starter you can use your favorite pancake recipe and use buttermilk instead of milk. This will add some of the tart taste that sourdough has, which will play on the sweetness of the fruit and syrup. Of course it will not have the complexity of sourdough. Another thing you can do with this recipe is play with various fruits. That is how I came to add the pomegranate. I think pomegranate/mango or pomegranate papaya would be excellent. I also have made ohelo berry pancakes… there are few limits on the fun to be had here.  

Looking for more things to do with the wonderful pomegranate? Here is my recipe for Chiles en Nogada. And from my photo site, another thing you can do with the arils… add to bubbly!  

Fresh Figs!

It is fig season on the mainland! Here in Hawaii, we have fresh figs all year. This simple appetizer for fresh figs wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with goat cheese in is both delicious and easy to make. You can also try other cheeses, brie works well too. 

Remove the stem of fresh figs. Any kind of figs works for this, I used black mission figs this time, but I have done this using other varieties. 

Make an X cut ¾ of the way through fresh figs.

Using a small spoon (I use a demitasse spoon) lightly pack the center of the fig with goat cheese. I used Puna Goat Cheese with tomato and basil in these. Add a pistachio or other nut to the cap of the fig.

Wrap in prosciutto, going around the fig at least twice with the prosciutto. 

Place on a hot grill (you can also use a grill pan for this) and turn frequently. You only want to crisp the prosciutto, the inside of the fig remains uncooked and slightly warm.

Serve and enjoy the compliments! 

Sourdough Battered Zucchini Blossoms

Zucchini Blossoms (don’t limit yourself to just zucchini, you can also use other squash or pumpkin blossoms) make great little vessels for stuffing and can also be used for sautéing and making wonderful fillings for quesadillas and tacos.

I was wandering around our newest farmers market on Saturday. It is the Hawaiian Homelands Farmer’s Market. Everything there is grown on Hawaiian Homelands land. The products there vary greatly and since it is a new market, there are somewhat limited choices, but I really want to support this market and go every week. Each week I have found something wonderful, last week it was an amazing new variety of avocado, this week it was a woman selling zucchini blossoms! I have lived in Hawaii for three years and never once seen squash blossoms in any of our farmers markets. I was absolutely delighted when she sold me a huge pile of them for just $2! And then she sold me a grocery bag full of limes for $2 too! This is what I call a *SCORE*! 

My first inclination when I have squash blossoms is to stuff and fry them. You can use a variety of things to stuff them, from crab to goat cheese. I decided on goat cheese because I have some local goat cheese that I bought at the Hilo Farmer’s Market. I have been making sourdough starter and it is in its seventh day, ready for anything from pancakes to bread. Why not use it for the batter on the squash blossoms? 

You can find my sourdough starter recipe here. Once you get to day five, you will be able to do this recipe or make bread. It really is easy to make the starter, it only takes minutes a day. Follow the steps and then to  1 cup of starter add:

·         1 cup of flour

·         About 2/3 cup of water, just enough to make a thick pancake like batter

·         Lots of freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper to taste (about ½ tsp)

·         About a tsp. of garlic salt

·         Add some herbs if you would like. The garlic salt I use has parsley in it, but I have added chopped fresh parsley, thyme rosemary or sage to batter

Whisk the batter well. Allow the batter to rest about 20 minutes up to one hour. Stir well just before use. Prep the blossoms by taking finger sized pieces of cold goat cheese (I used a locally made version from Lava Rocks Puna Goat Cheese with spices and herbs in it) fill and lightly squeeze the petals of the blossoms around the filling. Place in refrigerator until ready to fry.

Heat canola oil in a deep pan to 350˚ F and dip a squash blossom into the batter, holding it by the stem making sure the entire blossom is covered. Swiftly move into the batter. Cook two at a time. Flip after about 1 minute. Cook till golden on both sides and drain. These are best served shortly after cooking but if you are having a party, they can be kept in a warming oven for up to 30 minutes. They can also be served with a variety of sauces. I cut the blossoms in half and served them with Thai sweet chili sauce.  

Sourdough Starter Day 2,3 & 4

Here is how we got to this point: Making Sourdough Starter
Day Two: While you may not notice much change at this point. I noticed a huge difference. In 48 hours my starter had already formed bubbles and increased in size by about 20%. Pour the contents of the jar into a mixing bowl and add 1 cup of bread flour plus 1/2 cup of room temperature pineapple juice.  Mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed.  Wash and dry your glass container and then scrape the mixture into the container.  Mark and cover the container just like day one.  Allow it to rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day Three: Boy did I see changes! My dough overflowed the jar overnight. It was a huge mess and I decided that the natural yeast in our area and the heat/humidity (78-81 degrees and 40% humidity) probably contributed to the action going on in my starter. I decided to work in a larger bowl for a while to elevate the chances of overflow.

You might be seeing some changes by now. The dough may have raised some and there might be bubbles.  Regardless of whether you notice any fermentation or not, discard half of the mixture (or better yet, give it to a friend to cultivate), and mix the remaining half with 1 cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup room temperature filtered water (chlorine may kill some of the yeast).  Wash and dry the glass container and scrape the mixture into the container.  Mark and cover as before.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

I divided my starter and made some pizza dough with one half using a teaspoon of yeast too. It had GREAT flavor. I am looking forward to the day when I do not need the yeast at all. 

Sourdough Starter Day 1

Two years ago I went on a baking adventure with 100 other food bloggers from around the world. We all baked breads from The Bread Breaker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhardt. The impetus and inspiration for this blogging and baking adventure was a blogger from San Diego, Nicole Emmert Hamaker  who has the fabulous food blog Pinch My Salt. Nicole is revisiting sourdough and inviting us to join along, and I in turn am asking my blog followers to do the same. Let’s jump on the fermentation wagon together and see what works together.

During the BBA days I did the sourdough starter and kept it going for over a year. And then partly because I live in a warm tropical climate where bread baking is not always conducive, and partly because my business was taking up more of my baking time, I finally threw out the starter.

There are several links on my blog to those baked goods. This is one of my Sourdough Posts from the BBA Days in 2009.

Here is how I made my starter. Today is “Day One”. It will be a few days till I will be baking with it, but I will have some to share in three days.

Sourdough Starter

Day One: In a medium sized bowl, add one cup of whole wheat or whole rye flour (I use organic dark rye) with 3/4 cup (6 oz/small can) canned pineapple juice (at room temperature) until all of the flour is hydrated.  Spoon all of the mixture into a quart-size wide mouth glass container, such as a jar or glass measuring cup with plenty of head space, as this will eventually grow.  Mark the level of the starter with a piece of tape or rubber band. Cover the container with some kind of breathable fabric; paper towel, cheesecloth, or coffee filter and tie or secure with a rubber band.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day Two: You may not notice much change at this point.  Pour the contents of the jar into a mixing bowl and add 1 cup of bread flour plus 1/2 cup of room temperature pineapple juice.  Mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed.  Wash and dry your glass container and then scrape the mixture into the container.  Mark and cover the container just like day one.  Allow it to rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day Three: You might see some changes by now. The dough may have raised some and there might be bubbles.  Regardless of whether you notice any fermentation or not, discard half of the mixture (or better yet, give it to a friend to cultivate), and mix the remaining half with 1 cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup room temperature filtered water (chlorine may kill some of the yeast).  Wash and dry the glass container and scrape the mixture into the container.  Mark and cover as before.  Allow to rest at room temperature for  24 hours.

Day Four: The mixture should have at least doubled in size at this point.  If it seems to be sluggish and hasn’t doubled in size, allow it to sit at room temperature for another 12 to 24 hours.  You could stir in a teaspoon of raw sugar if it seems to be sluggish. Otherwise, repeat instructions for Day three.

When we get to day five, we will continue together!