Ain't No Party Like a Slow Cooker Party: Pork Carnitas

This has been a season with lots of milestones for our family – a significant birthday for my daughter, my son’s Coming of Age ceremony at church, my husband’s thesis defense and graduation, 8^th grade promotion – plus all the usual end-of-the-school-year activities, sports practices, etc. Every parent I know has some version of this going on right now. And it’s not a complaint; these *are* celebrations, after all, and we certainly love a good party around here.

If we celebrated everything individually, I would just invite half my family to move in since they’d be here all the time anyway. Given the limits of my familial affection we’ve smooshed a few things together, glossed over a few others, and tried to make the remaining events as stress-less as possible. Coming of Age presented a particular challenge, since we had to be at church that morning and lunch was at our house immediately afterwards. How do you serve up a taco bar that caters to everyone’s tastes, leaves the kitchen clean enough to serve lunch buffet-style, and doesn’t leave anyone languishing hungrily while the food is cooked? The marvelous, magical slow cooker, of course. (This event used 4.)

David and I have mostly agreed to disagree on the matter of slow cooker food. He thinks it all turns into dried-out, de-flavorized mush, and I indignantly point out a whole list of tasty things he didn’t even realize came from the slow cooker. (The key is to make sure your insert isn’t too big for your food – the marvelous Stephanie ODea recommends filling the insert 2/3 – ¾ full.) And while I’ll agree that there’s nothing at all as tasty as a big hunk of pork cooked slowly over applewood chips, ain’t nobody got that kind of time around here. 

While you can just throw some Boston butt in and call it a day, a little extra effort up front makes all the difference in the end result; and if your guests are used to getting the high-effort version of meals at your house, they’re going to assume that’s what you did this time. If they did realize it took 5 minutes of actual effort, they’d applaud your new, more relaxed approach to entertaining because they love you and want you to be happy and get some sleep sometimes and also this really is marvelous. And then you won’t even have to hide the cake mix boxes.

Slow Cooker Carnitas

4-5 lb Boston butt, trimmed and cut into 3” chunks
1 tablespoon oil
1 bottle of beer (we used Daura Damm, a surprisingly tasty gluten-free lager)(David just told me he used a bottle of hard cider instead yesterday)(also very tasty)
1 large white onion, diced (David skipped this when he made it, but anyone who has picky eaters vs. dietary restrictions should just put them in anyway because the picky people aren’t going to notice them)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped, plus 1 teaspoon sauce from the can (adds flavor, not heat)
2 ½ teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (seriously, it’s not going to turn out spicy)
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Working in batches, sear the pork until it’s nicely browned on all sides and put in the slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the pork pulls apart easily with two forks.

Preheat your broiler and cover two baking sheets with aluminum foil. Shred the pork and divide it evenly between the pans. Ladle about ¼ cup of the broth from the slow cooker over the meat.

Broil the pan for about 5 minutes, toss, and ladle another ¼ cup of broth over the top. Broil again and add a little more broth. Repeat with the second pan. You’ll get some nice little charred bits here and there but the pork will be incredibly tender and juicy – perfect for tacos!

This held beautifully in the slow cooker for a few hours and the leftovers were excellent, not a bit of dried-out meat anywhere in sight. The original recipe calls for pickled red onions and jalapenos plus a chipotle sour cream and I have no doubt they are completely fantastic; if you’re so inclined, please check out the original recipe. Since I’m the only person who can/will eat either of these it didn’t seem worth the effort to make them with dinner last night, and during the party we had so many taco trimmings it seemed like overkill (yes, even I can recognize too much of a good thing sometimes). The leftovers from yesterday are going into a tamale pie for later this week, since the June madness continues unabated and having dinner made in advance seems very practical.