It’s been a while since I’ve used my slow cooker (crock pot), so it was only fitting that I break it back in with something big: carnitas!

Living in Los Angeles, I eat a lot of Mexican food.  I love carnitas, carne asada, and my personal favorite, fresh chicharrones. When I first got the slow cooker, Tim said it would be great to make our own carnitas, and with pork shoulder on sale at Ralphs, I figured now would be a great time to give it a try.

I found several different recipes online for slow cooker carnitas.  Of course, none of these are the traditional way of making carnitas which involve pork lard and a copper pot.  However, there’s been many adaptations to making carnitas in a slow cooker and I used two of them as a reference for my attempt tonight.

Right now, the apartment is slowly getting filled with a spicy, savory aroma.  The timer is set for 10 hours so the carnitas should be done in the morning.  At that point, I’ll follow the additional step outlined in one of the recipes which involves roasting the chopped pork in the oven to get a bit of crispiness to the meat—yum!  I’ll post links to the recipe later and my own modifications; I need to see how it turns out first!

The heavily seasoned pork is nearly obscured by the fresh cilantro.

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