This isn’t really a soup, but a successful experiment that would work well in a thermal cooker, as well as an electric crock pot. Amazing flavor, not much work. I saw a menu item called “Beer-Braised Carnitas” on a website, and wanted to try it without slow-cooking in melted lard. :)
- I found a 3 lb bone-in chunk of pork butt (shoulder) on “reduced for quick sale.”
- Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
- Leave the fat cap on.
- Brown heck out of it on all sides in oil (This step can probably be skipped, but it makes it taste better)
- While the meat is browning, stem and seed a couple dried Ancho and Pasilla chiles. These are not at all “hot” – kinda fruity flavor.
- Toss them in your slow cooker along with handful of dehydrated onion flakes, ground cumin, some minced fresh garlic, some dried oregano leaves, and about 2 bottles of beer (I’d go for a dark-ish lager. Yuengling Light was what was sitting around, and it worked admirably)
- Put your pork butt into the slow cooker and add water or chicken stock to cover the meat about 2/3 of the way. (I had some that needed to be used in the fridge)
- Either bring it to a boil and put it in the thermal cooker, or turn your slow cooker to High for about 4 hours, then go to low and ignore all day.
Shred up the meat – it will fall apart but still be moist and tasty. Great tacos/burritos/etc. Wonderful in omelettes or other dishes. Blend up the beer and veggies as a sauce or soup/stew base. There’s nothing stopping you from adding onions, carrots and potatoes if the cooker is big enough, for an incredible stew.
The only downside? I have to go out and get more tortillas.