Reviving Carnitas

Reviving Carnitas

Once of the first posts I read on Chowhound years ago contained an admission by Vital Information that he awoke one night to realize he had forgotten to eat some special pickles at a Middle Eastern restaurant he had just gone to the evening before. This troubled him, made him lose sleep with thoughts of prandial paradise lost.

So, too, do I find myself aroused some nights by thoughts of food: what I should have eaten, what I want to eat.

I arose this morning around 4:30 AM (about five hours before usual), really hungry for the carnitas I bought the day before yesterday at Taqueria El Nuevo Mundo. Carnitas are very good when fresh from the cooker, of course, and though I have tried to warm leftovers in the oven, I’ve found that once the juices cool and harden (as they do when you put the carnitas in the refrigerator), the dry heat does no good. Something’s missing. There’s no life in the meat.

So through half-open eyes, way before dawn, it came to me: just fry them in a pan. Por supuesto! Now unable to sleep, I went downstairs, ripped up some hunks of carnitas, dropped them in a lightly oiled pan…and they were MAGNIFICENT! The high fat content enables the piggy shreds to brown up excellently, caramelized and crunchy, so what you have is not really carnitas in the traditional sense, but something just as good: crusty, oily, bubbly with fattiness, crisply exquisite warm pork morsels. Oh man, what a start to the day.

Taqueria El Nuevo Mundo
5901 W. Roosevelt, Cicero
708.656.6503

Try frying them with mojo criollo. They moisten up and become a convincing approximation of Cuban lechon. Throw in some onions until soft, then apply to some good crusty bread (D'Amato's long loaf, eg). The result is the great sandwich pan con lechon.

This is a great technique to use on tamales too. I usually buy much more than is needed and freeze some. Just fry them up in a skillet with some corn oil and let them get nice and crispy on the outside. If I am in the mood, I'll put some water in there to steam them a little bit too. It makes a great side for eggs.

bern bern wrote:This is a great technique to use on tamales too. I usually buy much more than is needed and freeze some. Just fry them up in a skillet with some corn oil and let them get nice and crispy on the outside. If I am in the mood, I'll put some water in there to steam them a little bit too. It makes a great side for eggs.

Reheating tamales is one of the few uses I have found for my microwave.

stevez wrote:

bern bern wrote:This is a great technique to use on tamales too. I usually buy much more than is needed and freeze some. Just fry them up in a skillet with some corn oil and let them get nice and crispy on the outside. If I am in the mood, I'll put some water in there to steam them a little bit too. It makes a great side for eggs.

Reheating tamales is one of the few uses I have found for my microwave.

Me too (that, and heating coffee), but I like bern bern's suggestion that skilleting tamales gives them a crispy outside -- again, not traditional, but it sounds like it would taste great.

Hammond

stevez wrote:Reheating tamales is one of the few uses I have found for my microwave.

Reheating tamales on the grill over hot coals is also a good way to revive them.

Bill/SFNM

Carnitas heated in pan with chopped onion, jalapeno. Scramble up a few eggs, and cook it all together. Warm up some tortillas. Thank me later.
I usually top with avocado and salsa. I'm not a big cheese eater, but logic dictates it would work very well here.

I do the same with tamales. Tamales and eggs.
Always stash a few tamals or a piece of carnitas away for Saturday morning breakfast scramble.

Hi,

Carnitas are not a whole lot different from pulled pork. Gary has long suggested reheating pulled pork with some added apple juice. He's been also known to add a few shots of vinegar laced with dried chilis, though this would add a flavor profile you (or is it I?) may or may not like.

Regards,

Personally, I have reheated carnitas by three methods:

1) Place in a dish with a couple teaspoons of water or apple juice and place in the microwave.

2) Place carnitas in the oven in a foil pouch in a pan with 1/2" water.

3) Do the same in a steamer basket.

The key is not to dry out the meat.