- 5 months ago
In this video, Chef John shares his mouthwatering Campfire Carnitas recipe—perfect for your next outdoor adventure or backyard cookout. Tender pork is slow-cooked until crispy and caramelized, infused with smoky, savory flavors that capture the essence of traditional carnitas. Whether you're cooking over an open flame or adapting it for your kitchen, this easy-to-follow recipe delivers bold, authentic taste.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Campfire Carnitas.
00:08That's right, whether it's next to a bonfire on the beach, or a campfire in the forest,
00:14or you're just barbecuing in the backyard, if you're near some hot coals,
00:18I'm going to show you how to make one of the most delicious, most succulent pork preparations ever.
00:23And I know that's not a taco, but we'll get to serving suggestions later.
00:27For now, let's go ahead and prep our pork.
00:30And what I have here is a nice piece of boneless pork shoulder.
00:33And what we'll do first is cut this into some fairly large chunks.
00:37Okay, I'm going to recommend something about two inches in size.
00:40But for this, a little bit smaller, or a little bit bigger will still work.
00:45And no, we don't need to trim off any fat.
00:47All right, we paid for that fat, so let's use all of it.
00:51Which is not going to be the same thing as eating all of it.
00:53But at this stage, we do need it for this cooking method to work properly.
00:57And that's it.
00:58Once our meat's cut, we will double up a couple of these foil pans, and we will transfer our pork in.
01:05And of course, we could use like a Dutch oven or a similar size pot for this.
01:08But these disposable pans are very camp friendly.
01:12And I don't know about you, but I did not go out into the middle of the forest to do dishes.
01:18But regardless, once that's transferred in, we'll go ahead and season it up with a generous amount of kosher salt.
01:23We'll also toss in some freshly ground black pepper, plus a nice big spoon of Mexican oregano.
01:30And then we'll take our hands and get in there, and we'll get in there deep.
01:34And we will mix and toss and massage that meat until every piece is evenly coated.
01:40And once that's happened, and our meat's been distributed evenly in the pan,
01:43we'll go ahead and top that with some sliced onion,
01:46a half-seeded chili, because I had one.
01:50And then last but not least, some whole garlic cloves still in the skin.
01:54And then what we'll do is take a piece of heavy-duty foil, and we'll cover that very tightly.
01:59And then once we have the top covered as shown, we'll take some larger pieces
02:03and slide them underneath, and then wrap them up and over.
02:06And I'm actually going to use three pieces to do that.
02:10Although if you're using heavy-duty foil like I am, two might be enough.
02:14But when in doubt, I always go for the extra piece.
02:17And it probably doesn't matter, but I'll usually turn the pan before I wrap the next one.
02:24And by the way, with these three pieces, we're going to finish with the folds facing up.
02:28Okay, if the openings are facing down, there is a chance some oil could leak out
02:32and possibly cause some problems.
02:34So to play it safe, we'll wrap from the bottom up.
02:38Oh, and by the way, if you have one of those fancy wireless probe thermometers
02:42that connects to the app on your phone, you could actually place that in the meat.
02:47And that would be a very nice way to monitor the doneness.
02:49But it is not necessary, and I've never done that.
02:54And while this does come out a little different every time,
02:56it's always come out amazingly well.
02:58And that semi-surprise of what you're going to end up with,
03:01to me adds to the fun and excitement of doing a dish like this.
03:04But anyway, once our meat is panned and encased in foil,
03:08we will head out to our campfire, or in my case, a pile of lump charcoal in my grill,
03:15which I'm going to fire up using one of these shredded wood starters,
03:18which I think is definitely the easiest way to start a charcoal fire.
03:21And please note, I went through the bag and picked out the biggest pieces of charcoal I could find,
03:27since that's going to be the longest burning,
03:29and we won't have to worry about replenishing the coals later.
03:32Which, by the way, is only going to be an issue if you're simulating a campfire on a grill like this.
03:38Okay, with a real campfire going, you will have access to all the hot coals you need.
03:42But if we are on a grill, when our coals are looking like this,
03:47we will take some long tongs, and we'll start moving those around,
03:51repositioning those to the outside of the grill.
03:53Since we're going to need to make space to fit our pan in,
03:56oh, and unlike when we're actually going to grill on top of the coals,
04:00we do not want those all ashy white.
04:02Okay, we mostly just want to make sure the edges are white,
04:05which hopefully means our coals are going to continue to burn for a long time.
04:08And that's it. Once we've made enough space,
04:11we'll go ahead and figure out how to fit that pan down in the center.
04:15And then I like to place a pan on top that's also been wrapped in foil.
04:20And once that's been placed on, we'll transfer a few coals over the top.
04:25So we basically have heat coming from all directions.
04:28And then what we'll do once we're finally happy with how our coals are arranged,
04:32is we will cover this up,
04:34and we'll close up our vents almost all the way
04:36to maintain a cooking temperature near the pan of about 275 degrees.
04:42All right, for me, anything between 250 and 300 is like the sweet spot.
04:46And at that temp, in about four to five hours,
04:49you're going to have some of the most beautiful cooked pork you've ever seen.
04:53And no, next to a campfire, you're not going to be using the lid,
04:55but rather simply moving your pan away from the fire or closer to the fire,
05:00depending on what your thermometer is telling you.
05:02And what I've found, if the temp at the top of my lid is about 240,
05:07the heat around the pan and going into the meat is right at that target temp.
05:13And like I said, I like to maintain that temp for between four and five hours.
05:17And every once in a while, I like to pull off the lid to let a little more oxygen in
05:21and also to reposition the coals.
05:25Oh, and as far as safety goes, I think this is very safe,
05:28as long as the temperature around the pan stays between 250 and 300.
05:33All right, obviously, if you throw this in the center of your campfire,
05:36where it's like a thousand degrees,
05:38this eventually will overheat and probably explode, injuring many people.
05:43So it's kind of key this is near the fire and not in the fire.
05:46And that's it.
05:48After going low and slow for about five hours,
05:50I'm going to go ahead and remove those coals from the top.
05:53And once that pan's removed, I'm going to grab my heat-proof gloves
05:56and very carefully bring this into the kitchen or to the nearest picnic table,
06:02where we can let this rest for up to an hour,
06:05or we can cut right in and eat as soon as possible.
06:09Right, that's going to be up to you.
06:11I mean, you guys are after all the daft punks
06:13of what will be some very unctuous pork chunks.
06:17Oh, and if you do go in right away,
06:19be careful you don't get any steam burns.
06:21So proceed with caution.
06:23And now that that's been revealed, let me grab some tongs
06:26so I can show you this has fallen apart tender.
06:29And we've produced a level of succulents
06:31that you can only achieve
06:33when you very slowly cook a meat in its own fat and juices.
06:37And of course, we could just start making a bunch of tacos.
06:40But in a more camp-friendly scenario,
06:43we could just grab some tortilla chips
06:44and just eat some pork nachos one at a time,
06:48maybe with a piece of onion
06:49and a few drops of green hot sauce.
06:52And that, my friends, despite the simple seasoning
06:55and the very primitive cooking method,
06:57will be one of the most delicious things you've ever put in your mouth,
07:00especially around a campfire
07:03or the after-party at a beach bonfire.
07:06And if those settings don't work out
07:08and you don't have a grill or a smoker,
07:10you can simply do this in your oven.
07:12And while not as fun and exciting,
07:15it should come out every bit as good.
07:18But anyway, I love the nacho approach.
07:20But another very camp-friendly delivery system
07:23would be to pile this on a hot dog bun
07:25with a nice big spoon of pico de gallo.
07:28And I think that would also be a very magnificent way to enjoy this.
07:33Except there's no placemats at the campground,
07:35so you won't have to worry about this unsightly scene
07:38where those pieces of veggies are falling on the table
07:41in a very distracting display.
07:43But anyway, the point is that's an insanely perfect way to eat this.
07:48And while I was annoyed at the falling salsa,
07:51as usual, the universe had my back.
07:54And a piece of pork fell perfectly into one of those sweet potato chips.
07:58And I realized all this had happened for a reason,
08:01which was so I could suggest another serving method
08:04of piling this pork on a pile of chips
08:07and doing sort of a version of Campfire Carnitas poutine
08:10with maybe some pepper jack cheese sprinkled over the top.
08:14But no matter how you serve this,
08:16or whether you cook it near a real campfire
08:18or on your grill or in the oven,
08:21this is one of the most delicious ways to cook pork.
08:24And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
08:27So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
08:31a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
08:34And as always, enjoy!
08:40Thank you so much for watching!
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