Crock Pot Pork Carnitas Tacos

Cock Pot Pork Carnitas Tacos (Southern California Mexican Style) 

Mexican food in Southern California is pretty darn close to as authentic as you can get north of the border. In fact, the only thing not authentic about this is the sour cream. This is not the healthiest dish, but one of my all time favorites, and pretty darn thrifty on the budget as well! Here In Southern California they sell a cut of meat called "Carnitas" at most grocery stores, but any old "pork butt roast" will be just fine. So, on with the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2-4lb Pork Butt Roast
• 1 bunch of fresh Cilantro (aka Coriander)
• 2 medium sized onions (yellow, white, red, purple, green, whatever!)
• 1 Package pre-made tortillas (We will do homemade tortillas in another post soon)
• Oil (Corn, Vegetable, Olive, Grape seed, Lard, Shortening... whatever floats your boat for frying stuff up in)
• 1Tbs Pico De Gallo Seasoning (I use the stuff shown to the right from amazon, the price seems high but thats for 2 of those big ones (I use it on alot of stuff so I go through it!), but I've used a "taco seasoning packet" in a pinch before and it was still good)
• 2 Tbs Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 chicken bullion cube (or equivalent powder or granules)
• Sour Cream
• Guacamole (I usually just use "Guacamole flavored dip" pre made and sold in tubs)
• Hot Sauce or Salsa of your choice

I never measure unless I am baking, I just don't cook that way, so most of my recipes will be approximations of what I think I put in there. If a spice is extra strong or something, I will be precise, otherwise it doesn't much matter because a little more or less never hurts either way usually.

Place roast in crock pot. Coat 1 side with garlic powder, Pico De Gallo Seasoning & a couple of dashes of cumin. Flip roast to the other side and coat that side too. Turn crock pot on HIGH and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pot. Toss in the bullion cube. Rough chop 1 onion and toss in the pot, cover and cook about 5 hours. I usually flip the roast halfway through, but it wouldn't hurt anything not too.

When the roast is done it should easily pull apart into chunks with a fork. Shred the roast into chunks. Now, here is the part that most people don't do and then wonder why it doesn't taste the same as the ones from a good Mexican restaurant... Get a pan with some hot oil and bring it up to frying temperature. Drain off as much liquid out of the meat as you can (save those juices if you wish to make some GREAT tasting rice btw!) and the part that makes it "authentic" is you toss the shredded meat into the hot oil and fry it until the ends of the shreds are crispy.

Fry up some taco shells, then add the meat, fresh minced onion and chopped cilantro, slap a dollop of sour cream, dollop of guacamole and add your favorite hot sauce on top, and enjoy! These tend to be a bit oily and messy, but chock FULL of yummy goodness!