Carnitas a la Casera: I

This recipe's posted for my friend and co-worker, Kira.

Kira and family were at the house one night for a party. Kira let me know she didn't eat meat other than chicken. Unfortunately, the meal was built around two styles of carnitas, a savory pork, which is eaten with tortillas and Mexican side dishes such as guacamole, refried black beans, mexican fried rice, etc.

Not too long afterwards, Kira let me know that both she and her daughter wanted the recipe! LOL...

The recipe I've used for many years for basic carnitas is posted here. In a future post, I'll put up the really special style that comprised the second carnitas offered that night.

The carnitas prepared this way are very savory, versatile, and may be frozen with some of the liquid for storage.

Note: I usually do this to a pork butt or shoulder of around 4 lbs. rather than the two in Hansen's original recipe.

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Carnitas a la Casera


Yield: About 4 cups of shredded meat

2 lbs. Pork butt
½ medium onion, cut in half
1 large garlic clove
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crushed
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt or garlic salt


1. Place meat in a 3-quart saucepan. Add water to cover, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, and
cumin. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Drain meat, reserving broth for another use. Place meat
in a baking pan. Sprinkle meat evenly with salt or garlic salt. Bake 45 minutes. Remove
from oven.

3. While still warm, use 2 forks to shred meat.

Hansen, Barbara. 1980. Mexican Cookery. NY: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., pp. 225-26.