I actually got most of this recipe from a coworker. This takes about 4 hours total to complete, but it is 3/4 inactive time which makes it very worth it.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds pork butt
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1 Tbsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp MSG (optional)
- Lard (lots of it, I never measure)
Tools
- One large cutting board
- Dutch Oven
- Large shallow frying pan
Method
- Cut the pork butt into 1-2″ pieces. They do not need to be anywhere near uniform
- Spice the meat
- Heat up your dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Add ~1-2Tbsp lard. Alternatively, you can render the fat from your pork butt, but I find that is never enough
- Brown at least two sides of all of your meat working in batches
- While browning the meat, preheat oven to 275
- When all of your meat is browned, return to the dutch oven, add additional lard, and put into the oven, covered, for 2.5-3 hours
- After the meat has cooked, you can freeze it for a later date or use it immediately
- To crisp the meat, add lard to your shallow frying pan, place meat in the lard, and squash the meat down. It should be tender enough to fall apart. Crisp up the meat to your desire and use in tacos, burritos, breakfast bowls, salad, or just eat it by itself
