Tacos de Carnitas

Craig & Cora came over a few weeks ago for a nice supper. I made tacos de carnitas, Cora brought some wonderful black beans, and we made a yummy savoy cabbage slaw for the tacos.

I've never made carnitas before but they were terribly simple. You should try it. My friend Eben emailed me his recipe, which goes like this:

For a 7 lb pork butt:
Cut the pork in fist sized chunks.

The Rub -
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground red chiles

Roast the chunks with 2 med chopped onions at 425°F for about an hour till a little browned under the rub. Put onions along with a tbsp of orange zest and bay leaf in the braising pan. Arrange pork in the pan. Add beer for braising, I needed 2 for all this pork. Then slow cook it. When done, remove the pork and pull it however you like. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and add to the pork. I reserved all the braising liquid and put it in the freezer to let me skim the congealed fat. The underlying chilled braising fluid was a dark rich porky ooze which I added about a cup of back in when I reheated the whole mess. Chopped cilantro and a squeeze of orange over the pile, toss and serve.The cinnamon, coriander and orange zest really make it bright and sweet.
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I successfully halved the recipe for a 3.5-lb roast. I used a mixture of white wine and orange juice rather than beer, and I also added a pinch of mexican oregano to the braise. It was easy and delicious and we still have a little bit in the freezer. In fact, now I recall that this was our second supper from the same batch of carnitas. A little goes a long way when combined with tortillas and beans and garnishes.