Yup… won’t be buying these again. But I still have a half batch to do up, and won’t be doing it as directed.
Right now I am thinking a longer braise (than the directed 5 minute steam), with some broth, OJ, onion/garlic, and oregano. Then crisp it up in a little oil.
Ok… so I did the second batch in 1 cup BtB chicken stock, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup fresh OJ, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 Tblsp chopped onions, good pinch of kosher salt, 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, 1/4 tsp dried oregano… braised for about 45 minutes.
Pork is now flavorful, universally tender, and finely shredded. Used a spider skimmer to transfer two tacos worth of pork from the braise to a 8" cast iron skillet with a medium puddle of EVOO on medium heat and crisped for 5-7 minutes or so.
SERIOUS improvement… but not again as I’d rather just spend another hour or two to do a much better homemade version.
When I peel the plastic back on supermarket carnitas Im just looking to feed people something that didn’t come through a window.
It could be any combination of fatigue, a late night, an overpacked schedule, and or simply no more fks to give.
Pull them out, give them to Chef Mic to warm up, shred them, throw them under the broiler for a minute or two, and eat.
They’re just fuel at that point, but with some cilantro-lime rice at least not soulless dreck.
