We begin our first attempt with a simple recipe for Carnitas borrowed from another blog (not sure if they want credit, in case I screwed this up). I wasn't ready for a long cook BBQ pork butt just yet, so we went with an easier braising in a dutch oven.
We bought a 5 lb pork butt from Costco, cut into 4 to 6 inch pieces.
Added:
The juice from 4 Oranges (1 cup)
1 Tablespoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of Cumin
1 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon of Onion Powder
Mixed all together in the dutch oven and then went out to fire up the BGE.
Filled the BGE with BGE charcoal, put a fire starter in and worked at getting it to 350 with the plate setter in, legs facing up with the grate on top. Our first adventure was temperature control. It took about 20 minutes to get the BGE up to 350. Put the dutch oven in with the cover on. From here I closed the top and bottom vents to 1/4 open. Being my first time with the BGE it took 40 minutes of small adjustments to get the temperature to stabilize, going as high as 365 and as low as 335. But in the end we were able to get it to stabilize around 350-353.
After the first hour, took the cover off the dutch oven and it smelled wonderful. Went another hour with the cover off, gave it a stir and checked in on it every 15 minutes, giving it a stir.
The recipe was supposed to take 4 hours, but the internal temperature hit 205 within 2.5 hours a little faster then I wanted it to. Time to take it off, let rest for 10 minutes and then pull apart into small strips using my BBQ gloves.
In the end the Carnitas tasted pretty good. Mrs. Eggventure made a bowl combining the Carnitas with Spinnach, black beans and a cup of Carnitas to keep the "points" down. I heated up a couple of corn tortillas, put some avocado, jack cheese and hot sauce with the Carnitas. It tasted pretty darn good. Mixed in with a Smithwicks left over from St. Patty's day and I was happy with our first attempt with the BGE.
Beercan Chicken is up later in the week.
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