bell & basket

cooking. baking. home.

Carnitas Style Slow Roasted Pork Butt

It’s been a long and tiresome year. I’ve been thinking about my “comeback” recipe after what feels like forever – trying to think up the just right recipe that reestablishes who I am, what I do, and why I love sharing myself and my recipes here on Bell and Basket. 

But my perfectionism has caused a level of debilitating paralysis. I can blame it on a year filled with grief, loss and loneliness but on top of that, I had a kid and became a mother (and it brought me SO much joy, but this just isn’t the post for that). So this hasn’t just been time away to think about the work I’d like to do here but a monumental transition in my life on top of a year filled with so much unpredictable change. 

My husband was laid off. We moved to our house upstate. My career was changing underneath my feet and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I’ve said yes to everything because I’ve felt like I couldn’t say no. And now, I’m exhausted.

So humor me for a moment. It’s a warm early summer day with a crisp breeze. One of those days where you say, “we’re only going to get a few of these.” A day where the oven is on, the windows are open and the cross draft is blissful. 

I yell, “come eat!” and friends make their way up to the picnic table to make their own tacos. Beautiful pulled pork, chopped white onions, lots of cilantro, guac, lime and charred around the edges corn tortillas. Kids run around and cold seltzers flow.

This carnitas style pork butt recipe is for that day. It’s super tasty, satisfying and feeds a crowd. In my current reality I can make it between Zoom calls and it lasts all week long. My husband loves it. My kid shovels it. It even freezes well. 

And although the cooking time is long and grueling it is very worth the multitude of meals it makes. Pulled pork sandwiches, tacos, burrito bowls. Throw it on top of polenta, instant ramen, or greens. I hope you make this to alleviate some of that every day cooking fatigue and when we can gather again, I hope you’ll come over for a kick ass taco party. 

The Recipe: Carnitas Style Slow Roasted Pork Butt

This recipe is for an 8lb, bone in pork butt. If your pork butt is anywhere between 6 and 8 pounds, I’d stick to the measurements below to pack lots of flavor. If you have a smaller than 6lb cut of meat, you can halve this recipe. 

Cook time: 8-10 hrs low and slow at 250 degrees

Prep time: 30 min

Serves 8-10 people

  • 7-8 lb bone in pork butt 
  • 2 large yellow onions, diced
  • 12 cloves of garlic, minced 
  • 2 tbsp salt 
  • 2 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp coarse ground black pepper 
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika 
  • 1 cup of orange juice (I’ve also used the juice of a lemon, a few tablespoons of brown sugar and enough water to make a cup of liquid in a pinch)

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Start by washing your pork butt and patting it dry with paper towels. Set aside on a cutting board, fat cap face up. 

Dice your onions and place in the bottom of the roasting pan. Make sure your roasting pan is at least 2 inches deep as there will be some yummy pork fat and juices that collect while the meat roasts. 

Chop your garlic and set in a small bowl. Add spices to the bowl and give it a good mix.

Stab 1 inch slits into the fat cap with a paring knife. Roll up your sleeves and massage the garlic and spice mixture into your pork butt. Get it really good and coated, top, bottom and sides. 

Place the pork butt on top of the onions in the roasting pan. Slowly pour the orange juice all over the pork. 

Cover the meat in foil and roast in the oven for 1 hour per pound – so in this case 8-10 hours.

After 8 hours, the pork should be tender enough to pull apart with two forks. If it’s not, put it in for another hour and check it. If still no luck, let it go an hour longer (every cut of meat is different and every oven is different). For the last 20 minutes, cook uncovered and crank the heat up to 375 degrees so the pork gets crispy. 

Let it cool for a half hour or so and pull all of the pork off the bone and toss to coat with the juices and cooked down onions. Discard the bone. 

When reheating, get a pan nice and hot so the pork crisps up around the edges. Throw a taco party, make pulled pork sandwiches or enjoy this any way you like.

Triple Chocolate Celebratory Cookies

Portraits by Rikki Will

Why is this cookie a celebratory cookie? Because it’s the first cookie I made after having A BABY! Rafa has brought so much joy into our lives and these past four months have been amazingly sweet – and hard. But these cookies made those late night feedings and postpartum crying sessions a little bit easier.

Thanks to our friend Rikki Will for taking these beautiful family photos right around Rafa’s two months. We laughed, Rafa cried, we baked cookies and it was mostly fun. Check her out if you need beautiful photos/portraits taken and are in the Brooklyn/Manhattan area.

Now I can’t make these cookies without thinking about those early months. Every time I start creaming the butter and sugar I think about what he’s going to be like as he grows up. Every time I sit down for a meal and he’s watching I say, “One day you’re going to love (insert food here).” I especially know he’ll love cookies – just like his dad.

Cookie photos by Colin Berg

These cookies are very chocolatey and not too sweet. They’ve got those brownie edges but they’re soft and bendy. They’ve got just enough salt that you can eat three in a row. Or if you’re Colin, all sixteen cookies in the middle of the night. His favorite line is, “you should have made a double batch!”

Now on to the cookie. When making these, you might think the batter is too sticky – but that’s just how it’s supposed to be. Make sure you refrigerate the dough overnight (or at least three hours) or you won’t get the right texture. The recipe calls for a large egg but if your eggs aren’t large, you should add a tablespoon of water to make sure the dough is moist enough and the cookies spread in the oven. If they turn out high and really hold the “ball” shape, then your egg wasn’t large enough.

ONE NOTE ON WHITE CHOCOLATE! If you’re not a white chocolate person like me, don’t skip the white chocolate chips, please. The white chocolate adds a perfect hint of sweetness that’s welcome in these deep, dark, chocolatey cookies. Because the batter isn’t too sweet, I really think the white chips take these over the edge.

I hope you celebrate something with these cookies because they’re really worth it. And right now, anything is worth celebrating.

Triple Chocolate Celebratory Cookie (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature (if your egg isn’t large, add 1 additional tablespoon of water)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped dark chocolate (I use Trader Joe’s Pound Plus 72% dark) 
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, plus a few more for pressing on top of the cookies before they go into the oven
  • Maldon flaky sea salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, around 3-6 minutes. Add large egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. 

In a separate bowl add all dry ingredients and whisk. Add dry to wet mixture slowly. The dough should be sticky but if it seems dry, add a tablespoon of water and mix one more time.

Add chopped chocolate, walnuts and white chocolate chips right at the end. 
Refrigerate dough overnight (or at least 3 hours). 

Remove from fridge and let soften for 5-10 minutes. Scoop onto a baking sheet, press a few white chocolate chips into the top and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a baking rack. 

The Pantry! Before and After

We’ve finished the LEAST crucial space in our house FIRST. Forget the bathroom, or the kitchen. No one lounges in the pantry, or eats in it, but I don’t care. I’ve always dreamed of a space to show off my jam jars, pickles and cookbooks. The pantry was a major selling point when we bought this house, despite the scary before pictures.

The former pantry was dated and far from beautiful. It had shelves that were way too deep and items hard to access. When we demo’d the shelves we discovered that this was a place where critters were hanging out, so in hindsight, I’m really glad we started from scratch in this room.

When I found Young House Love’s tutorial on built in shelving, I knew that I wanted to mimic their simple, clean pantry design. Although their tutorial was helpful, I’m almost certain the houses they renovate aren’t 1848 farmhouses. Which means when we went to do everything they instructed, it didn’t work for us. Our studs are NOT 16″ on center. We made 6,000 trips to Lowe’s to find other solutions, and we ended up using very heavy duty wall anchors and screwing into the studs wherever possible. We did the best we could and think we achieved our goal in making this space feel open, clean and functional.

And check out this hutch! We bought it at an auction for $25 and painted the back of it white (yes, I held an auction paddle and spent way too much $$). We also bolted it to the studs of the wall behind it, so it feels built into the room too (and won’t fall on anyone). I’m obsessed with it and love that my baking scale, cookbooks, vintage Saveur mags, and jars of beautiful ingredients live out in the open. There’s also a very convenient cabinet below for “ugly stuff” storage.

Swoon. Our $25 auction hutch.

Lastly, I wanted somewhere to hang pots and pans that was outside of the kitchen. I found some tutorials online for this, but we decided to wing it and figure it out ourselves. Check out the instructions below to build these on your own. It’s really easy – the industrial pipe pieces screw together and end up looking very chic against a white wall. I think it looks stunning!

Nothing brings me more joy than walking into this room, labeling jars of dried goods, stacking (and re-stacking) cookbooks, and getting inspired.

DIY Industrial Pipe Rack 

What you’ll need for two racks:

Step 1: Slide S hooks onto the pipe

Step 2: Assemble the pipe to the elbows, then attach each nipple to the elbows, then the flanges

Step 3: Make sure the flanges lay flat against the wall and the pipe is level. Mark your holes on the wall

Step 4: If using anchors, drill holes for anchors and insert anchors. With someone holding on side, screw the flanges onto the wall.

Step 5: When attaching the second rack, make sure the distance from the bar to the wall is the same as the first. Or you can also stagger them, but make sure you’re aware.

Step 6: That’s it! Hang your pots and anything else from this very simple rack.