What do you think? I found two recipes for carnitas de puerco

[EFerrari]

that are very different. One says, slow cook the meat until the liquid is gone, and then, brown the meat on each side with the pan fat in a hotter oven for a few minutes. The other says to sear the meat first and then slow cook it.

Which do you do? Seems like browning it at the end would allow more flavor from a marinade to be absobed. But, it might also dry out the meat more? :shrug:

[Warpy]

1. I'd definitely go with the second way

because it will deepen the flavor greatly and it needs a rich flavor to stand up to Mexican spicing.

[Kali]

2. first is the traditional way

using a copper pot

[Retrograde]

3. go with the first

you need to brown the meat to get the crispy bits that make it carnitas. Otherwise you just have pulled pork, a fine thing, but not the same.

[EFerrari]

4. The first way is a lot like a Brazilian recipe I tried a while ago

where you season the meat and put it in liquid which you allow to cook off. It was yummy. But for carnitas, you want to finish it by crisping the outside, right? I guess getting well marbled meat is also a good idea.

I'm really curious now. lol

[Stinky The Clown]

5. What you're asking about are more techniques than recipes.

I like the brown and then slow cook idea. The slow cook and then brown is kind of the reverse of the way most foods are cooked and for good reason.

As to the recipes themselves, I would think, even without seeing the actual recipes, you could do either set of ingredients with either method.