Crock Pot Beef Carnitas

The charming blog Eat, Live, Run offers a beef carnitas recipe for the crock pot. I'm learning that very few things really work in the crock pot - most things turn mushy, with muddy, bland flavors. Your house smells great, but dinner tastes like boiled socks. But some things really work, mostly dishes that you would otherwise cook for hours in the oven.

Carnitas are traditionally braised slowly, so I thought this yummy-looking recipe was a good bet:

It's a simple recipe. Rub the meat with spices, add the veggies, and cook. Serve with cilantro, lime, salsa, avocado.

Here's what mine looked like at the end of the cooking time:

I shredded the meat, mixed in some of the veggies, and added the toppings:

They looked fantastic. Unfortunately, they suffered from crock pot syndrome - very bland and mushy. It tasted like there was too much liquid, and the flavors weren't concentrated enough. I was expecting taco-truck deliciousness, but was disappointed. Maybe there's a spectacular slow-cooker carnitas recipe out there, but this one didn't work for me.

Verdict: Blah and mushy is the opposite of what Mexican food should be.