Glad to have a friend like you.
Charles and Jason are definitely friends with benefits. What kind of benefits? Well, it started with four enormous, Prime-grade, beautifully marbled steaks.
They were at our home for dinner one night and Charles started talking about the steaks. “They’re so thick,” he said. “I’m not sure how to cook them without completely overcooking the outside.”
Left to right: Peter, Charles, Jason
“A reverse-sear would be perfect,” I replied, apparently volunteering to cook them one week later. (Here’s how the reverse-sear works.)
Over a delicious steak dinner the following week Charles asked, “have you ever cooked a whole fish?” This continued until we arrived at pork belly. One delicious night we cooked 6 pounds of pork belly three different ways. The clear winner of the evening was carnitas style: crispy, rich, salty and seasoned with blood orange, cumin, a hint of cinnamon and epazote.
Here’s the recipe. At the moment we’re buying our own pork belly, but I can’t wait to get Jason and Charles back in our home. Hey boys! What would you like to eat next?
*I’m totally dating myself here, but who read the title and started humming along to Free to Be You and Me?
Pork belly carnitas tacos
Serves 6
Carnitas are traditionally chunks of fatty pork shoulder, braised until tender with orange, epazote, cinnamon and bay leaf, then chopped and crisped up in its own rendered fat. Not that it needed any improving upon, but roast pork belly is a pretty darn delicious way to gild this lily.
For pork belly:
2 blood oranges, zested and juiced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs epazote or ground oregano
1 tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 lbs pork belly, skin removed
4 bay leaves
For tacos:
18 6” corn tortillas
1 onion, finely diced
1 bunch coarsely chopped cilantro, about 2 cups
Directions:
Dry rub pork belly: One day ahead mix together orange zest, cinnamon, cumin, garlic powder, epazote, salt and pepper. Score pork belly in a diamond pattern cutting through the fat but not into the flesh. Sprinkle spice blend over pork and rub it. Place in refrigerator to marinate over night.
Roast pork belly: Remove pork belly from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Preheat oven to 450 F. Cut pork into four pieces and place in oven safe 12” skillet. Add juice and bayleaves to pan. Place skillet in oven and roast for 40 minutes. Reduce temperature to 275 and roast for 1 hour longer until tender. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Chill (or don’t) and crisp the pork: If you have the time, chill the pork overnight, if not move right along to chopping it into 1/2” pieces. Using some of the rendered fat from the pan crisp up the pork belly over medium-high heat.
Assemble tacos: Warm tortillas in a dry skillet or cast iron pan over medium heat, turning once. Wrap in a kitchen towel while warming remaining tortillas. This steams them slightly making them wonderfully tender. Fill tortillas with pork and top with diced onion and cilantro.
