Mexican Carnitas

This Mexican Carnitas recipe is the best recipe I have found for authentic Carnitas tacos. You can put them in a salad or you can wrap them up in a burrito or even a chimichanga. This pork Carnitas recipe is fantastic!  I'll first explain how to make them without a pressure cooker.

3 1/2 to 4 pounds of pork Boston Butt roast cut into 2 inch cubes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves
1 lime, zested and juiced with spent rind added to mixture
1 whole onion cut in half
1 orange, zest, juice, remove the seeds and add the spent orange and juice
1 Cup of water

Put all ingredients in an oven-safe pot that has a good-fitting lid.  Start on the top of the stove.
Bring all ingredients to a boil on the stove and put into in a 300° oven, covered, for two hours. Remove to see if it's fork tender after two hours. Remove the meat from the pot and turn up the heat on the stove. Remove the onions, and orange & lime rinds and boil the sauce to reduce to a glaze about 10 to 15 min. While the glaze is reducing shred the pork and then pour the glazed over the meat.  Remove the bay leaves.

To make this recipe faster, place all ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Remove meat to shred in a bowl.  Remove onions, and orange & lime rinds and boil sauce to reduce to a glaze, about 10 to 15 min. Continue as above.

You can also put all the ingredients into a crock pot and cook all day on low.

Tacos are great in toasted or fried corn tortillas with some lime juice, cilantro, cheese, salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole.  What ever you like on a taco.  This meat is terrific in a salad too.