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Pork Carnitas

"Many find carnitas a little dry or flavorless. These have a great, distinctive flavor and are requested by friends and family over and over. Serve with warm, fresh tortillas and salsa."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Pork Carnitas

Why it works: Oregano and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 983 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pork Carnitas

12 servings
Prep15 min
Cook3 hr 30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

606Calories
61 gProtein
32 gFat
18 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Oregano + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lime + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Lime + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, lime, oregano, cumin, chicken):

  1. Corianderfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, garlic, lime, oregano, cumin, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.