Carnitas Al Pastor Sous Vide
Of course carnitas and tacos al pastor are different dishes. And they definitely do NOT involve sous vide techniques. But stay with me here and see what may be the best dish I have ever cooked.
I took a big pork shoulder roast (picnic portion) and cut it into big chunks.The skin/rind was removed. The pork chunks went into pouches with my standard al pastor marinade, sealed, and left to marinate overnight. The next day the pouches went into a 154F water bath and left for 24 hours. The chunks were throughly dried and then fried in very hot lard for about 1 minute to form a nice crust.
Meanwhile the skin/rind was cut into small pieces and fried in lard for cracklings (chicharrones). Some dried chile-spiced pineapple chunks were sealed in a pouch with some orange juice to rehydrate for a few hours in the water bath. These were then caramelized with some onion with the cracklings:
The pork was fall-apart tender and extremely juicy due to the lower cooking temp.
Served on very fresh corn tortillas with some of the marinade that had been cooked down into a “manchamantel”-like sauce.
Wow! That looks great! Have you seen the new sous vide supreme cooker that is now on the market? http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/
Thanks. Yes, the new device is everywhere – very impressive marketing! I might even have purchased one, except I am very pleased with my current sous vide setup. It cost me a fraction of the new device’s price, has a much larger cooking capacity, and includes a water circulator. Still, from what I have heard, they have done a great job and anything that introduces more people to the advantages of sous vide is a good thing.
Perhaps you can write up a post comparing your cooker versus the Eades cooker. I am sure there are a lot of people who would like one without spending $500.
Good, idea Michael. Next time I set it up, I’ll try to take some photos so others can clearly see what I am using and how I am using it. Thanks.