Ingredient notes
elbow: The best cut for making meat on pork shoulder is pork shoulder, which is also called Boston butt or Boston barbecue. If you can’t see it in the store, I find that butchers are usually happy to cut it for you. I prefer boneless pork for this instant pot crisp carnitas recipe because given the limited size of the instant pot, we cut it into sections.
Spice rub: I use sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and coconut sugar to make spices. This adds a lot of flavor to the overall meat, especially since we burn the pork once we rub the spices.
Orange Juice and Chicken Soup: Once the pork was browned, I used a combination of orange juice and low-sodium chicken broth to shed. I found that using orange juice touch adds a delicious and rich sweetness to the meat, and the chicken soup helps to add flavor. These can be replaced with water, but the taste will be reduced.
coriander: Coriander does make meat. I use fresh coriander and then cut the leaves off the stems. If you don’t care about cilantro, you can swap it with Italian parsley.
Lime juice: Fresh lime adds a delicious citrus vibe to the cinnamon and helps enhance the pork flavor, especially when combined with cilantro and sea salt. If you don’t care about lime, you can use orange juice.
