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Eight-hour carnitas — photos at every stage

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I documented the full carnitas process from start to finish with photos at the two-hour, four-hour, six-hour, and eight-hour marks. This was a 2.5kg shoulder cooked in lard at a low oven temperature. Two hours: the meat is beginning to colour but still intact. The fat is clarified. Four hours: the shoulder has slumped and the visible connective tissue is starting to melt. Six hours: you can see the muscle beginning to separate. The fat is darker. Eight hours: the meat pulls apart with a finger. The fat has reduced to about 60% of the original volume. Final crisp in a cast iron took 6 minutes. The result was the best carnitas I have made — yielding, slightly gelatinous at the edge pieces, consistent throughout.

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carnitas_king

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The four-hour photo of the slumping shoulder is the most informative — that is the visual cue I use too. When the shoulder loses its shape under its own weight, the collagen conversion is well underway. You can be confident in the final result from that point.

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oven_carnitas

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The fat volume reduction to 60% by eight hours is consistent with what I see in the oven. That reduction is what concentrates the flavour in the remaining fat and in the meat. The eight-hour batch always tastes more complex than the four-hour one.

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