Chaperone Carnitas

The last couple weeks have been a morass of attempting to find suitable chaperones for upcoming events...Confirmation's upcoming trip to Atlanta and the Youth Lodge at our church retreat, most notably. I started much earlier, but due to weeks of polite offers to allow people to chaperone resulting in no luck, I became desperate and pleading in the last couple of weeks. I finally attained full coverage, but last Monday, I was utterly downtrodden when I arrived home from work. Thus, it was lovely to have a pork roast waiting for me, all cooked and ready for shredding into carnitas. Crockpots are beautiful things. All I had to do besides shredding the meat and adding a little seasoning was to make some boxed Spanish rice and heat up a can of Roasrita refried beans. I had never tried that brand before and enjoyed the combination of beans left intact and beans mashed. Someday, I will probably make my own, but for last Monday, canned was perfect.

Carnitas

2-4 lb. pork butt roast (I made 4)

5 cloves garlic, sliced

1 jalapeno, chopped

12 oz. beer (I used Abita; you can use anything but light beer)

1 bunch cilantro (optional...it tastes like soap to me, but Jeannene loves it; if it tastes like soap to you, too, you can omit it)

Cumin & chili powder, to taste (optional; I felt it needed something more)

Make slits in the pork roast and slip the garlic slices into them. Place in crockpot. Put jalapeno and cilantro on top. Sprinkle with spices, if using (or you can, as I did, add them during the shredding process). Pour beer over the roast, cover and cook on low 8-12 hours, high 4-6 hours. Shred the meat. Serve with soft tortillas (corn are traditional but I like flour better for this) so people can make tacos. If you want to get fancy, you can serve some sliced onions and chopped tomato with it as well. 2 pounds serves 4, with leftovers.