Carnitas Tacos with Pickled Red Onion

My family really enjoyed this. The only change I made was to let the pork sit in marinade overnight and then sear it on all sides before putting it into the oven. Since I usually can’t find a small shoulder roast I just double it and freeze half. It takes about 5 1/2 hours for a larger cut of meat, so like others said 6 hours may be too long for a smaller cut. I serve it with cilantro, pickled onions and a little lime crema. Delicious!

I make this a lot and feel I have perfected the recipe.I prep the meat the night before and let it sit in the achiote mixture overnight. I do the cast iron thing at the end because it gives the meat a most wonderful bacon-ish flavor. I prepare the red onions Peruvian-style which in my opinion just tastes better. You thinly slice the red onion and let it sit in ice water for about 15 mins, then drain and place in freshly squeezed lime juice, enough to just about cover the slices, a little olive oil, salt, pepper and thinly sliced hot peppers, we use habaneros but jalepenos or serranos work too. I also make a sauce with chipotle and sour cream and put in a squeeze bottle to drizzle over each taco. Finish with fresh cilantro and you have a taco worth bragging about. People seriously love these -- a real crowd pleaser!

I couldn't find a small pork shoulder at my grocery store so I substituted pork tenderloin. I should've researched that a little better... Anyway, if you go this route like I did, it cooks for wayyyyyy less time. I checked mine at 1 hour 40 minutes and it was already well over the recommended 145 degrees for pork. Lesson learned. Anyway, the dish still tasted AWESOME! That tomatillo salsa is better than any I've had in a restaurant and the picked onions are a MUST!! I need to make more for tomorrow. This dish definitely goes into my regular rotation.

So I should maybe not review this because we used our Traeger grill and slow roasted/smoked it.  The cut was also a pork top loin, so no shredding here (nor did we cook it again on the skillet), but thin sliced the meat for the tacos.  Loved the pickled onion.  The marinade was good - did not have the anchiote paste so subbed chipotle paste (2 teaspoons) and 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar.  Total cooking time at 250 was 2 hours and 45 minutes.  The meat was tender and juicy.  Time consuming but I'd make this again.

We used a ~1.9 lb pork butt roast and it was done at the 5 hour mark, so make sure to check on it periodically as 6 hours may be too long. We were tempted to skip step 6 as we thought that the pork was incredibly juicy, tender, and perfect as-is, but frying it afterwards gives it an even lovelier flavor and texture. The pickled onions are also a must-- really make the meal and help round out the flavors-- don't skip them.