Pork Butt Carnitas & Crab Cakes w/q-view

[chisoxjim]

Not done on the smoker, butt still cooked slow and low. Take a look if you want.

Doing a cubed pork butt(BRT butt $1.29/lb) slow and low in lard and a mix of oj, and lemon juice. It will go 3 hours on the stove top. In the lard is also some lemon and orange zest, and a cinnamon stick. I rubbed th cubed pork with oregano, kosher salt, and black pepper. The carnitas will be served on corn tortillas with cilantro, white onion, and some hot sace. Pretty authentic imho

Also got some live blue crabs($2.99/lb @ the local asian market). Stemed them off, and picked the meat out. Did a mix of poblano pepper, celery, and red pepper for the filling. The wet part of the filling is egg, dijon, sour cream, salt and pepper. Formed, and dredged in bread crumbs. Sitting in the fridge now ready to hit the frying pan.

heres my prep:

crab:




done:



yield:



carnitas ing:



seasoned cubes:



3# lard melting down:



crabcake veg:



wet ing:





ready to go:



thanks for looking & check back if you are interested, more to come, pork is halfway there.

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks like a great start Jim.

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks, the house smells darn good from that simmering pot o' pork slwoly frying...

 

[thunderdome]

I'm excited about this one

 

[rivet]

Holy cow....two of my favorite foods! carnitas and crab cakes~ bud, you are seriously creating a yearning here. Excellent looking crab; definitely looking forward to your carnitas and your plan sounds very tasty. Please don't skimp on the Q-Vue 'cause I am really droolin' over here!

 

[beer-b-q]

I bet those are gonna be tasty....

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks guys,

took a sample chunk out of the lard, and it is darn tender, the citrus kick is really there, Im thinkin maybe another 45 minutes til the pork is done. I will add 3 tbsp of milk towards the end to help carmelize the pork.

ill get more q-view up after supper.

 

[mballi3011]

Man I hope my wife doesn't see this thread cause she has been looking at my blue crab in the salt water tank of mine.

This is after he molded and we stand and watched him double in size. You could probally get a couple of good size cakes out of him now. But I do really like the carnita's for tacos with some celontro and onions and jalapeno slasa of rivet's. I would be in heavan. I like crabs cakes to but my guy killer is my buddy. Well atleast till he gets to much bigger. Then I'll be the killer.

 

[chisoxjim]

awesome picture of your crab.

I just wanted a side, and the price was right @ tghe Asian market.

 

[beer-b-q]

He does look like he would be very tasty...

 

[chisoxjim]

Heres the finished carnitas and crab cakes:

carnitas very tender:



crab cake in the pan:



crab cake done:



pulled carnitas:



my plate:



leftover carnitas will be some NFL nachos tomorrow.

thanks for looking.

 

[rivet]

Beautiful, Jim! What a feast, bud...you sure made a combo-plate from heaven

Nothing better than that, 'cept maybe more of it! You put any hot sauces on the carnitas? Wow...now I'm hungry. Points for such an interesting combination so well done!

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks rivet,

I used the green El Yucateco hot sauce on my tacos, as well as some sliced jalapenos. I am looking forward to the nachos as I type.

I will definitely be going back to that asian market for more live blue crabs. Maybe for my New Years Eve crab boil I am doing.

 

[sdesmond]

Those carnitas look amazing. I had some yesterday from the local mexican store. They were putting the first batch out as I walked in. points from me too.

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks,

I read alot of carnitas recipes, and knew I needed to use lard, and some citrus, kind of boiled it in the lard citrus mix vs deep fried it. The nachos I just had with the leftover carnitas & some goat cheese were really good.

 

[the dude abides]

Nice post Jim. Looks great. Congrats on a couple of great meals!

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks dude... it was good eats, and the freshly killed/steamed crab made those crabcakes.

I have a meatloaf setting up in the fridge right now, fixin to put that on the GOSM around 3:00 cdt.

 

[pepeskitty]

Wow Jim that looks amazing. Great looking meal.

thanks for sharing.

 

[pepeskitty]

Sorry forgot to add points are coming.

 

[chisoxjim]

I appreciate the kind words, glad you enjoyed the pics/post.