After every barbecue contest, we find ourselves overflowing with leftover meat.  On average, we cook two 8 pound pork shoulders, two 12-16 pound briskets, 16 or so pieces of chicken and four to six racks of ribs.  From that we select six to eight of the best looking portions to turn-in, leaving quite a bit of food at the end.  Fortunately we almost always have friends or family willing to take a large part of this off of our hands, especially if it turned out alright!

But then there's all of the meat trimmings, the most abundant of which is pork trimmed from spare ribs in order to create St. Louis cuts.  And while people are generally more than happy to take slow cooked barbecue off of your hands, a bag of raw rib trimmings just isn't as appealing.

In an effort to use some of this excess meat, we decided to make a big ol' batch of carnitas (reipe follows below).  Now normally you'd use pork shoulder when making carnitas, but we figured the rib meat would work just as well and indeed it did!  After simmering for several hours, we warmed some fresh corn tortillas and broke open a box of salsas and sauces we had just from the folks at Trigger Beelers, opting to pair the pork with their pineapple salsa. 



The salsa had a hint of heat and just the right amount of fruity sweetness to balance the flavor of the pork.  We finished them off with a puree of avocado, sour cream, garlic and cilantro.  Here's the finished product.



Rib Trimming Carnitas
3 pounds rib trimmings cut into cubes (pork shoulder can be used instead)
4 cups beef broth
2 cups orange juice
2 cups Triggers Pineapple salsa (or salsa of choice)
2 teaspoons salt
Water

In a large pot, combine pork, broth, orange juice, salsa and salt and add enough water to cover the pork entirely.  Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately four hours until pork is fork tender.  Strain meat from liquid and place in a large baking dish.  Shred meat with two forks, removing any bone and gristle.  Meanwhile heat oven to 400 degrees and place baking dish in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until the rop of the pork has browned and crisped.  Serve immediately.