Never heard of them? They're like the 12 days of Christmas only shorter and completely different in that the days occur not after the holiday, but before, because we all know that Thanksgiving has barely caught its breath before we move on quickly to the December holidays and only faintly recall the last Thursday in November when not a gift was exchanged, yet appreciation was plentiful. (Sorry for the run-on, compound sentence.) Oh, and the 8 days of Thanksgiving originated not in England in the 1700s but in Los Angeles in 2009. I’m making the whole thing up as I go along, owing a debt of gratitude to the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians of Massachusetts in 1621.

Most every adult I know bemoans the lack of attention that Thanksgiving receives compared to Christmas. “Give Thanksgiving a chance!” I shout to my daughter heading to school with Santa Mickey Mouse earrings dangling from her lobes. It’s not that I don’t want people to attend the tree lighting ceremony at The Americana at Brand tonight, or at The Grove on Sunday evening. It’s just that giving thanks is so pure – or at least it should be and it’s wonderful to focus on just that for an entire day. It’s what Thanksgiving is all about. And yes, it’s also about food: the giving of, the sharing of, the eating of.

And so, I give you Jo’s 8 Days of Thanksgiving. Today, of course, is just day one. It’s a menu of sorts, an olfactory method for focusing our thoughts on giving thanks for any and all of our great gifts. Here we go:

ON THE FIRST DAY OF THANKSGIVING, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: A PORK SHOULDER OF CARNITAS.

I know, strange, right? You’re thinking I’ve already dipped into the holiday nog. Not so. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will smell as wonderful and as autumnal as this recipe cooking in your oven. Serve it alongside the turkey (or on any day of the year), as a tip of the hat to the forefathers of Los Angeles who surely would’ve cooked up something like this had the pilgrims ended up on Olvera Street and not Plymouth Rock.

Ingredients:
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
3-4 lb. pork shoulder butt roast (your children will laugh when you say this)
kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ cups orange juice
½ cup water
2 bay leaves
juice of one lime

Preheat oven to 275°.

The pork shoulder usually has a bone in it which I cut out with my very sharp knife. Then I slice the pork into 1” thick “steaks” for the purpose of browning them.

Heat the oil in a heavy roasting pan or Dutch oven. Sprinkle the pork with kosher salt and brown on both sides. (I use a roasting pan over two burners. If your Dutch oven is too small to brown all at once, brown in batches.)

Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients together. Place the pork back in the roasting pan or Dutch oven. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the pork. Add the orange juice, water, lime juice, onion, garlic and bay leaves. Cover and bake for approximately 6-8 hours. There should be some liquid remaining for the final step. (I’ll add some olive oil and/or orange juice if my pork is running low on liquid.)

Final step: turn up the oven temperature to 450°. Remove cover (or foil) and break apart the pork. Spread out in one layer (if you’ve used a Dutch oven, chances are you’ll need to transfer pork to a roasting pan so that you can spread the pork out). Place back in the hot oven, uncovered, for approximately 15 minutes, or until the pork is browned and slightly crispy.

I serve with warm tortillas and avocado, but it’s so tasty, the carnitas can stand by themselves.

Get your kids involved by letting them help you measure. Or check out the great coloring/craft pages at Crayola.com that they can do while you’re in the kitchen. Also, FamilyFun.com has printable Thanksgiving decorations (napkin holders, place cards, “what are you thankful for?” sheets) that the kids can work on rather than burning themselves near the oven.

Tomorrow: 2 turkeys brining