A trace of buttermilk can be tasted in these delicate, delectable sugar cookies. This recipe was given to me by a friend years ago, and my family adores them so much that I struggle to keep them in the cookie jar! Just before baking, you can lightly dust the tops of these with granulated sugar, or you can ice them once they have cooled fully.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 ½ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into large pieces
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 orange, juiced and zested
- 2 cups whole milk
Instructions
- Season pork with pepper and salt.
- Heat oil in large pot over high heat. Working in batches, cook pork in the hot oil until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Return all cooked pork and accumulated juice to pot.
- Season pork with bay leaves, cumin, dried oregano, and cayenne pepper. Stir in fresh orange juice, orange zest, and milk. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is fork tender but not falling apart, about 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Remove pork from liquid. Skim some fat from the pot to grease a baking dish. Transfer the pieces of pork to the baking dish. Drizzle about 2 more tablespoons of the floating fat over the meat. Season with more salt, if needed.
- Bake in preheated oven until pork is browned, about 15 minutes. Stir pork.
- Turn on oven’s broiler. Cook pork under broiler until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes.
- You can strain and reduce the cooking liquid if you want, and do “wet” tacos by adding some of the juice to chopped meat.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 325 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 84 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 805 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
It’s so good guys. I’ve been making this for years, but I did tweak it a little. Added about a half white onion, less milk, but used condensed and with water to cover, along with a Mexican Coca-Cola but regular cola will work fine. Five cloves of roughly chopped garlic, about a half teaspoon (maybe less) of cinnamon, bumped up the cumin and small bunch of cilantro. It’s unreal and on my death row meal list After a browning and everything I did strain the liquid and pushed all the garlic and goodness through the strainer and removed most of the oil after it all settled and then reduced. It makes an unbelievably flavorful sauce. Edit: I just made these today that prompted me to take a double check on this site. Anyway, I forgot to get oranges but I did have some of those cuties/clementines that I substituted. Outstanding!
Fantastic taste, thanks chef John as always!!
I tried to make this, and the orange juice immediately curdled the milk. Yuck. Not sure what I did wrong.
I used 1% milk and added more of the oils back to the pot. I will probably make this my new go to carnitas recipe.
It might be unfair to rate this recipe because I made a few changes with the flavors but I just had to try the milk braise. But even with that, I used 1% milk because that is what I had. I’ve tried many recipes in hopes of replicating the carnitas at our favorite restaurant and this is the closest. After browning my 2” chunks of pork, I added 1 onion, 2 jalapeños, garlic, orange peel and juice, fresh lime juice, cumin, oregano, cayenne, bay leaves, and 2-cups 1% milk. No cinnamon or Chinese 5 spice as we don’t like those flavors in our Mexican food. After 2-hours of simmering, I transferred the meat to a baking dish and followed the bake then broil instructions. Perfection! The next night, I spread the pork on a cookie sheet and reheated in a 450 degree oven for 10 min and they were even better! I will definitely make this again.
OUTSTANDING! I made these as written and they were excellent! Thank you CJ!
I used all the same ingredients but I slow cooked it for 8 hours in a crock pot.
The family loved this. Made it according to the directions in a Dutch oven in the stove. Followed recommendations to bake and then broil. Served on flour tortillas with some carrots, cucumber and jalapeño that I ribboned with a potato peeler and marinated a short while in quarter cup each of water, apple cider vinegar and white sugar (this was an idea posted in another review and it was a hit), onions and cilantro
Nice pork recipe. I did not make tacos, though. I made hasselback potatoes, although a plain baked potato, rice, or mashed potatoes would be fine. I halfed the recipe, since I had a 1.5 lb shoulder. My extra oil didn’t separate for the baking, so I put a little bacon fat in the pan, and tossed that, along with the orange milk broth. I don’t know why he didn’t just say to use the broth at the end. Maybe it would burn? I did have a cleaning issue at the end, but not too bad. I reduced the broth with a little cornstarch and served it on the side.
Excellent recipe and easy! Second time making it used boneless country style pork “ribs” cut into 1-1 1/2″ chunks and it was fork tender in just over an hour and even better than the pork butt. Made traditional tacos to rave reviews. The cooking liquid is just too good to toss so I reduced it and used it to cook rice the next night and served it with Halibut which was all just fabulous. I can see the pork just with the orange/milk rice as well. Yum! Thanks Chef John.
It was bland. Very disappointed
Incredible!
My new “Go To” for carnitas! Thanks Chef John!
Followed the recipe just as it said, and it turned out delicious. Chef John said his wasn’t as good as the one he was copying, but I can’t imagine it tasting any better! Tender meat, with a bit of crispy on the edges.
Very Very Good.
Such an outstanding recipe! I have made this three times now and it’s a family favorite. The uses for the meat are endless. Try stuffing some chili relleno peppers with the meat and shredded cheese. Making it today and used half and half instead of milk. I think the extra fat in the milk ingredient will make it even better (if that’s possible).
I guess the orange juice caused my mile to curdle or clump? The flavors were very good. We ate it as our main dish with mashed potatoes and corn.
We started with 4.5 lbs of pork and upped all the ingredients by 50%, except we used 3 oranges. It was fantastic. The second batch is in the cooking stage.
Another winner, Chef John! Thank you. I saw something at the market that I had never seen before. A 7-bone pork “roast” kind of like a large “steak.” Worked out very well since I took the meat off the bone. Easy recipe. I’ve cooked pork in milk before and I’m not sure, despite stirring, how to get rid of the little congealed bits of milk. This cut was very lean, so I had to use oil in the bottom of a small baking dish. Will not hesitate to use this cut again and will definitely try it using the regular pork shoulder cut. Just awesome. Would be good paired with Chef John’s Golden State Gazpacho, too.
Followed recipe, except roasted in oven too long so it was a little dry (my bad). Next time I’ll follow the direction precisely! Great flavor, spices and subtle hint of orange made it delicious! Another winner from Chef John, thanks for posting.
Delicious as written!