Carnitas
Do you ever order something that seems nice in a restaurant and when it arrives think that you should have ordered what the other person did? I am sometimes riddled with food envy and I hate to miss out. I was reading Angie’s Fiesta Friday about making cocoa cola carnitas and I knew I had to make some too. I love carnitas and I have several recipes with cocoa cola but there was something about Angie’s version that made me tick!
I carefully read through the recipe and got even more inspired and as I did an ingredient check I couldn’t help but add some ingredients and this is my version. Adapted from Angie’s adapted version, I guess carnitas is one of those dishes where everyone has their own version.
Cocoa cola braised carnitas
preparation time 10 minutes
cooking time about 3 1/2 hour
serves 4
Ingredients
- 700 gr or 24.6 oz pork shoulder
- 1 whole head of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 5 chipotle chiles, cut in to chunks
- 2 tsp paprika, I didn’t use smoked
- 4 fresh bay leaves
- 4 dl or 2 cups coca cola (full fat)
- 2 dl or 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp oil
Cut the pork and cut off as much fat as possible. Heat the oil and brown the pork. Add the chipotle, garlic and bay leaves. Fry for a couple of minutes and add paprika, the cocoa cola, chicken stock, Shaoxing rice wine and the fish sauce. Put a tight lid on, turn the heat down to simmering and leave to cook until the meat is tender. It took about 2 1/2 hours. When the meat was tender I shredded it, put it back in the pan and cook down until the liquid is caramelising and the shredded meat is browning. This is the only time when you need to watch the carnitas closely. You want the caramelization without burning the pork. Don’t worry that the cooking liquid has reduced, it is still juicy and delicious.
I got some soft tortillas and added soured cream and vegetables to the carnitas. The chipotle chiles added a nice heat and smokiness.
I am so glad Angie did carnitas, it is such a treat!
Food Eat Love 
Yum! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
OMG looks so good!
hi Talia
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you try it! 🙂
Bonnie and I are going to try this one… would have never thought of using fish sauce and shaoxing.
Hi Seng I hope you like it! Don’t forget to let it caramelise at the end!
Fish sauce and shaoxing rice wine adds a ton of flavour! Let me know how it goes 🙂