Slow-Cooked Carnitas for Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday Freddy and I decided we wanted to make carnitas to celebrate cinco de mayo. Since there was a big fight.. Mayweather vs. Cotto.. we bought it on ppv and called the homies to come eat, drink, be merry, and watch the fight with us. We got the carnitas in the slow cooker a little late so they weren't ready until 9pm when the fight had already started, but they were WORTH IT! dang... soo tasty... and easy! I can see myself making this again with spanish rice (also easy), refried beans and homemade salsa for another party. 


We based our carnitas recipe on this one from allrecipes.com: http://bit.ly/IQGjyZ but changed a few key things. 
 Ingredients: 
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder 
2 teaspoons ground cumin 
1 teaspoon dried oregano 
1 teaspoon ground coriander 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
4 bay leaves 
1 cup orange juice 
1/3 cup chicken broth 
5 pounds bone-in pork shoulder roast (actually one had a bone, one didn't? is that normal? Also, it was 1.5 pork shoulders because we bought two but only 1.5 would fit in our slow cooker) 


We followed the instructions on the recipe, trimming about half of the fat off the pork, substituting orange juice for some chicken broth, and cooking on high for about 6 hours instead of low for 10 hours.


I shredded then fried up some of the meat just to make it a little crispier on the edges, but  it was good without frying it too. Just depends on how you like carnitas!

Not the best picture ever because this is actually the carnitas I ate this morning for breakfast, but you get the idea. Everyone loved the food... and I have to say that they were some of the best carnitas I have had... including el camino...

Happy Cinco de Mayo!