I made carnitas in a slow cooker. I did not get a pork shoulder/butt cut of meat to make the carnitas recipe. I used pork loin instead…and rubbed salt, pepper, cumin, oregano on the meat. I put onions, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, & garlic. I cooked it for 8 hours on low heat.
After it was cooked, I shredded the meat a bit.
Even though the pork was cooking in its own juices, etc. the meat is 'dry', i.e. when I eat it, it doesn't have a nice mouth feel. Is it because the pork loin is not as fatty as pork shoulder/butt?
Now I have 4 lbs of 'dry' meat that I don't want to waste.
Is there anyway to rescue this? Do I just smother it in a lot of BBQ sauce, for example?
Meat – How to rescue ‘dry’ carnitas
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Best Answer
It is the fat and connective tissue breaking down that give pulled pork the luscious mouthfeel you describe. Smothering it with barbecue sauce would probably help, but my favourite thing to do with leftover or less than successful carnitas is a pasta sauce. I just add the meat to a good tomato sauce with appropriate seasoning and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.