Needed to put his in here. Just another round of flavor packed amazingness. I dumped the drip pan oil into the dutch oven, added couple yellow onions, more carnitas rub and then filled it with chicken stock. I threw it in my oven at 200 F and braised it all day while I was at the office.
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A la maquina those gonna be good!!!Comment
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Well, I fell into a rabbit hole on this thread. If you’re not hungry after reading this thread, you are simply not human. Some great versions.
as many of you know I only have my gas are now and my postage stamp patio. But I put Fogo on the grill to get real smoke flavor when I’m cooking things. I traditionally fry mine in lard so with this recipe adding a bit of lard to a skillet or a flat top is a money move.
i’m considering making a version of this as best I can with the Fogo on the gasser. Only I will finish it in lard. To the lard you add a boat ton of citrus, juice, citrus rinds , onions and garlic, etc.,
The smoke flavor is so light maybe it won’t come through. I don’t know we shall see.Comment
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HouseHomey sounds so good! You mentioned you grew up in Santana (spelling intentional).... you've been to El Toro, right? Off Bristol and 1st, right? Now I want carnitas! -
SheilaAnn absolutely. I grew up with that place. We used to ride our bikes there. And then as we got older, we would buy the six packs of beer that they would pack directly in a plastic bag with ice. I’ve eaten more Carnitas from there you can’t possibly imagine. Haven’t been back in 20 years, but it was so good.
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I'm making this again. Changes: lime zest added with lime juice, 1t annatto, and 1T medium hot Chimayo powder along with the 1T chipotle powder called for in the recipe.
Last time I used some pork stock and some of the marinade in the Dutch oven. This time I think I'll use all marinade - lots of flavor there, I'll keep it in the fridge while the meat smokes.
I didn't think about this before putting the meat in the marinade but I bet some thyme would be a good addition.
The bucket is packed, might not look like it but I was afraid 10 lbs of bone-in pork butt wouldn't fit. I had to remove a pint of marinade for the meat to fit. I'll chop the veggies and season them in the morning before going to the farmer's market to sell hot sauce.
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Duanessmokedmeats Just got in from the farmer's market. Firing up the SnSK now.
Spinaker I'm going to add some fresh thyme to the Dutch oven. I have a bumper crop of Scotch Bonnet peppers too, might add a couple - this won't be enough to make a large volume like this hot.
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Ha! I love this thread!! One because of the food…but also because I get to type
a la maquina!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t wait for 58limited to show off the cook!Comment
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I had totally forgotten about this! I made this about two years ago and it was great!
I have been looking for something to cook over Thanksgiving with one of the frozen pork butts I have, but I was kinda tired of the same-old Memphis-style.
This is the answer!!Comment
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Here is the cook so far. I just put the Dutch oven into the oven for a 2-3 hour braise. I poured the drippings into the Dutch oven then topped off with the retained marinade. This barely fit into my Misen 7qt enameled Dutch oven, its my biggest enameled Dutch oven.
Garden grown jalapenos are smaller than store bought. I used five red jalapenos from my garden. The yellow things are two chopped Scotch bonnet peppers.
The attachment should have been posted above, it is when I first put the meat onto the SnSK. Cherry wood split for some smoke.Attached FilesLast edited by 58limited; November 22, 2025, 05:38 PM.Comment
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Spinaker I'm going to make homemade tortillas tomorrow and I'll be taking this to work on Tuesday for the clinic Thanksgiving party. If I can find some corn-on-the-cob I'll make fire roasted corn pico to go with it and serve with some cotija cheese, and my hot sauce of course. House smells amazing right now.
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This works GREAT withe feral pork too. One of my go to recipesComment
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texastweeter Did you shoot the hog with a revolver with a 4 foot barrel? -
Most of my hogs are taken with a levergun. Either .45 colt, .30-30, or .45-70 58limited but yes, that is the reference I was going for.
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Final product: Maquina de Carnitas! Picture was taken this morning after removing from the fridge so the fat is congealed. I noticed that the Scotch bonnets did make it a bit spicier than the last time I made this but it really isn't spicy. Tabasco is spicier.
At the end of the cook last night, I skimmed off the fat (about one pint of smoked and spicy lard), pulled the meat out of the Dutch oven, added the last remaining pint of marinade, and reduced to a flavor bomb of a "sludge" which I added back to the meat when I shredded it. The oil is similar to chile oil, would be great for toasting tortillas. I'll use it to crisp the meat as I serve as well.
I still have to make tortillas today but I've been snacking on this since last night.
Good Eats! (That's high praise from a Texan)
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I will be growing many more varieties of peppers this next season. -
Awesome!!! Yeah that fat is liquid gold. You can use it to pan or griddle fry the pork to make it super crispy. I also like the idea of using it to toast the torts.
Nice work. I appreciate you giving it a try, I know you have tons of recipes to choose from. I also appreciate your input and additions to the recipe. That is what a community recipe is all about.
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I can't find my notes from when I last made this. Is this is two night marinade or one?Originally posted by Spinaker View Post
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I am actually making this right now. This is what is throwing me......Originally posted by Spinaker View Post
You do the meat marinade in the OJ and let that run over night in its own bowl, but do the veggies with their own dusting of rub in the dutch oven and just let that....sit?
Very simply....do we discard the OJ marinade at any point?
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Michael_in_TX When I made my second batch in November I used the marinade as the cooking liquid for an extra flavor boost. Yes, the veggies just sit. This last time that I made the carnitas I didn't season the veggies until the morning of the day of the cook. -
Basically you prep the veggies the night before. Not a necessity but I like to have it all ready to go for the next day. I usually make this for our sauna nights. I am in a hurry and I want to come home grab the food and get the sauna ripping. So I like to have everything prepped for the day of the cook.
Do the meat in the marinade and let that sit over night. I mix it up just to keep ting fresh overnight. Kinda like when you are making bacon with a cure, I always try to mix it up when I can.
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At the moment, everyone is going into the pool, as it were. Someone yell at me if this is a mistake.
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This recipe should be on the free site and pinned. Spinaker for President
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FYI.....I have made edits to this recipe after a ton of feed back. Like every recipe, refinement is key.
Marinade: Add some of the marinade to the dutch oven. This adds more richness to the dish. I like to let the marinade or braising liquid to reduce almost all the way down in the dutch oven. You should not have to use a strainer to remove the pork from the dutch oven. Generally, when I make this recipe it is outside, by an open fire. I will stack coals on the top and bottom of the dutch oven. This really helps to reduce the liquid in the dutch oven. That being said, it can make a mess in an indoor setting. So this might be best done by the fire. However, you can simply let it braise longer, indoors, and achieve the same result.
Fry the braised pork!
I think you should try to fry the pork after braising. I always do this and it really makes it awesome. I originally made it "optional" because I know this recipe is already a little daunting.Comment
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I'm not sure where i went wrong with this. I followed the recipe exactly (kind of a first for me) using the OJ and I ended up with some good pulled pork, but not what everyone is describing. Edit: I used the recipe in the original post. I didn’t pay attention to the post right above this one lol. Maybe I should have used some of the marinade in the braise. I am not tasting the marinade at all. I am going to let it sit overnight and fry some up tomorrow and see what that adds. Here are a couple of pics:
Out of the marinade and seasoned with the rub
Ready to come off the kettle.
Last edited by klflowers; February 8, 2026, 12:59 AM. Reason: I should have read the entire thread before making this. Reading is required.Comment
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