Pork shoulder is the other great sale-cycle meat. A few times a month it drops to $1.79 a pound around here, and a three-pound piece of it — braised low with orange, lime, and garlic, then shredded and crisped under the broiler — makes eighteen tacos with edges so crackly you'll hear them from the other room. Taco-truck carnitas simmer in lard vats I do not own; this method fakes it with the pork's own fat and a hot broiler, and I am telling you it gets you 90% of the way there for a fifth of the takeout price.
What it costs
| Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Pork shoulder/butt (at the $1.79/lb sale) | 3 lb | $5.37 |
| Corn tortillas | 18 | $1.50 |
| Limes | 3 | $1.00 |
| Cilantro | 1 bunch | $0.79 |
| Orange | 1 | $0.60 |
| White onion | 1 | $0.60 |
| Garlic, cumin, oregano, bay, salt, pepper | pantry | $0.30 |
| Total — 6 servings | $10.16 → $1.69 each |
How to make it
- Cube and season. Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks — don't trim the fat, the fat is the recipe. Toss with a tablespoon of salt, 2 teaspoons cumin, a teaspoon of oregano, and 6 smashed garlic cloves.
- Braise. Into the Dutch oven with the juice of the orange (throw the spent halves in too), the juice of one lime, a bay leaf, and water to come halfway up the pork. Lid on, 300°F oven, 2½–3 hours until it shreds at a glance.
- Reduce. Pull the pork out, fish out the orange halves and bay, and boil the braising liquid down hard until it's a glossy, fatty glaze — 10 minutes or so. This is liquid gold; do not skip it.
- Crisp. Shred the pork onto a sheet pan, pour the glaze over, and broil 4–6 minutes until the edges crackle and catch. Toss once, broil 2 more. Char is the point.
- Build. Warm tortillas in a dry pan, pork, diced onion, cilantro, lime. That's a complete taco — anything more is decoration (though pickled red onion from the fridge-door jar never hurt anyone).
Thrifty upgrade: this scales like a dream. A 6-pound shoulder at the same sale price makes two dinners plus a freezer bag of carnitas that revives perfectly in a hot skillet — that's three future meals banked for about $11 of meat.
Swap freely
No orange? Use half a cup of orange juice or even a spoonful of marmalade in the braise. Flour tortillas if that's your house's politics. Leftover carnitas also make an outrageous rice bowl, a quesadilla, or a topping for the black bean chili when you want to show off.