Braised Pork in Orange Sauce (Carne de Puerco a la Naranja)
Updated October 10, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
3 pounds boned pork shoulder, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil
2 tablespoons caramel coloring (see recipe)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
6 green onion or scallion tops, sliced on the diagonal
Peel of 1 orange, white part discarded, cut in thin juliennes
Peel of ½ lemon, white part discarded, cut in thin juliennes
Juice of ½ lemon
2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 3-inch stick cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
1 sprig fresh thyme, or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon flour, mixed with 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Unpeeled orange slices or wedges for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oil in a large pot, add pork cubes and saute over medium-high heat until cubes start to brown, about 10 minutes. The cubes may give off a lot of water; if so, continue cooking and stirring until water evaporates. Add caramel coloring and continue cooking and stirring until pieces are a rich brown. Do not let caramel coloring burn.
- Step 2
Add all the remaining ingredients except the flour and orange juice paste. Stir to mix well. Then add flour paste and mix well so there are no lumps in the sauce. Lower heat to barely simmering, cover pan and leave to cook 1 hour or longer, until pork cubes are tender and sauce is thick and unctuous.
- Step 3
Serve immediately, removing bay leaves, cinnamon stick and fresh thyme sprig. Garnish with thin slices of unpeeled orange or orange wedges, and serve with rice and beans, and West Indian vegetables, such as yams, yautia and malanga.
Private Notes
Comments
use brown sugar in place of the whole caramelized sugar process
Excellent taste! Next time i will extend the cooking time to 75 min for getting the meat perfect .
Fantastic!!! and fairly easy to make. Don't scrimp on the cooking time. It's worth the patience to wait until the meat almost falls apart. It's REALLY GOOD the 2nd+ day. I served it with microwavable Bombay Lentils and Uncle Ben's 90-sec.Chicken Rice - tacky but perfect.