Pork Carnitas are a classic twice-cooked Mexican dish that make excellent tacos, paired here with a lovely Côtes du Rhône wine.

Pork Carnitas

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

Wine Pairing: Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône 2015

This month, for Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW), my blogging friends and I are celebrating #OpenThatBottleNight with various tasting notes and food pairings.

“Open that bottle night” is the brainchild of Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, who write “Tastings,” their weekly wine column. It is meant as a chance and reminder for those of us who have wines tucked away for special occasions to get the bottle out and open it. And this event is held on the last Saturday of February every year, which in this case was on February 25th.

I hadn’t heard of it before doing this month’s topic, so when the 25th came around I was a little unprepared, having already committed myself to cooking my pork, which I had intended to set aside to post in May. So it wasn’t from my cellar (where I have a small collection of bottles) that I chose my wine from, but instead researched a bit to see which wine would actually go with the pork. And as for recipes for Cinco, I am always full of tricks, so don’t worry about that.

And it is a true fact that I don’t recall ever having drank wine  with carnitas before, so instead of opening up a special bottle I have saved, it was more of an “open up your prejudices about only serving beer with Mexican” night, and breaking all my own personal taboos.

Because in fact, I relied upon the recommendation of sommelier Caryn Benke of the Andina Restaurant in Portland Oregon in her brief article on Serious Eats to go with a Côtes du Rhône, because of the high acid and ripe fruit character, while being lightweight, to accompany something like carnitas.

Bill and I had been out to the Pint Night at Jungle Jim’s market exploring wines over a pint or two of ale when I came across the Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône 2015 on a shelf of wines designated as being part of Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines of the year. It ranked 43 out of the hundred, with a 91 point rating, and a good bargain at around $15, so I bought it without even a single sample.

It turns out the wine is a nice lighter red with flavors of deep plum, bright berry fruits and licorice. We both enjoyed the pairing with the pork and made quick work of the bottle. So I do recommend. And any idea that I used to have that I wanted a cerveza with my taco was quickly tossed. Each of them goes well.

As for the pork, I bought a whole shoulder, but you can also go with a smaller piece, or even cut the bone off something like country ribs  (unless they are boneless, which sometimes happens), which are just thick slices of pork shoulder. With the whole piece, there is some fat that I cut off, along with bits of silverskin and gristle that I noticed. And from there it was easy work in the crock.

The meat really is tender when it is done, but you can’t get the total effect unless you brown and crisp it in the reserved fat. Carnitas is a fried product, no matter what other recipes might tell you. I use lard for the traditional flavor, but any good oil will do.

I served my carnitas on flour tortillas in the street taco style with minced white onion, cilantro, and a lime wedge. On the side I offered Mexican restaurant style rice, pico de gallo and caramelized plantain slices, all of which I hope to get recipes to you soon enough. I do have other salsa recipes and Potsie’s Mexican rice recipe available on the blog, and the plantains are fairly straight-forward sliced and sauteed when the plantain is blackened on the outside.

Join me tomorrow when I group up with Sunday Supper with Healthy Green St. Patrick’s Day recipes. I have put together a recipe for Green Goddess dressing from scratch to use on the classic bibb salad. It makes a lovely side element for most meals. Until then-

~Sue

Wine Pairing Weekend

Open That Bottle Night Pairings from #winePW bloggers

Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm will post How #OTBN happens while on vacation in Dominica

Jen from Vino Travels will share Baked sausage rigatoni with Vignavecchia Chianti Classico Riserva

Sue from A Palatable Pastime is pairing Pork Carnitas with Saint Cosme Cotes-Du-Rhone

Michelle from Rockin Red Blog is writing about South of the Border for Open That Bottle Night

Cindy from Grape Experiences is posting Wine and Dine: Two New Zealand Pinot Noirs and One-Pan Chicken

Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla is pairing Red Wine Chorizo + 1994 Argyle Reserve Oregon Pinot Noir

Nancy from Pull That Cork will post Our OTBN Celebration: The Château Léoville-Las Cases Stole the Show

Lori from Dracaena Wines is sharing Wine is in Boxes. It’s OTBN. Still turned out to be a night not to miss

Martin from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog will post Batting A Thousand for OTBN Vol 8- A Celebration With Friends

Jill from L’occasion is opening A Gigondas from the Cellar

Julie from Wine-N-Friends will share A memorable pairing with 2012 Kenzo Murasaki

Gwendolyn from Wine Predator is posting Cheers to Open That Bottle Night 2017 with Champagne from Bollinger

David from Cooking Chat is posting Chanterelle Beef Stew with a Special Wine

No blog post about #OTBN, no worries! You can still join the conversation about Open That Bottle Night Pairings by joining our live Twitter Chat on Saturday, March 11. Simply tune into the #winePW hashtag on Twitter at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on 3/11 and join the conversation. Please also make plans to join us for the April Wine Pairing Weekend event, when Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm will be hosting on the topic of “My Old Standy” on April 8. You can get a list of all the past and upcoming #winePW events by visiting the Wine Pairing Weekend page.