During my trip to California, I discovered what a real burrito tasted like. It was delicious, flavourful and wrapped in a soft chewy flour tortilla. Just the thought of one makes my mouth water.  Mmmmmmmmm……

Back to Vancouver, I looked for a good burrito place but “burritos” in any place in Vancouver was just a wrap. I really craved a burrito so I decided to attempt the ridiculous and make my own burrito including the pork filling.

Normally pork carnitas take hours to make since you need to slow roast the pork in the oven.  It can take 8-10 hours. This was something that I really didn’t want to do. I found this recipe for a 2 hour pork carnitas and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.

For this recipe, it asked for a fattier pork shoulder but the only pork I had was a pork loin. So I gave it a shot. Cut the 4 pounds of pork into 2 inch pieces and place in a large cast pot or dutch oven.

Cut the onion in large chunks. Cut a medium orange in half, squeeze the orange in the pot and put the orange peels in as well. Add 1 tsp of cumin , 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp of oregano and 2 Tbsp of lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. To the pot add 2 cups of water. Heat the ingredients until it starts boiling. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. When the mixture boils, place the pot into the oven and cook for 2 hours. The pork will be tender.

When the pork is ready, spoon out the pork and put on a baking tray. Using two forks, shred the pork. Reduce the remainder of the liquid on the stove top until it is about 1 cup. Pour the liquid on the pork and broil the pork in the oven until it is  brown and crispy.

The pork is ready when the tips are dark brown and crispy. Serve in a flour tortilla with salsa verde, fresh tomatoes, guacamole and any other condiments you like with it. Personally, this was an easy recipe and I’m glad I tried it. I would make sure to use pork shoulder and larger chunks but I really liked the flavours and it reminded me of my burrito adventure. Enjoy!
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Inspired from http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2012/11/pork-carnitas.html

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 onion, peeled and halved (I like using sweet onion)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 medium orange, halved
• salt and pepper to taste