Carnitas Coloradas Mexicalenses

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Carbon steel wok, 14 inches, or a heavy cast iron skillet
• •Sharp chef's knife for cutting pork against the grain
• •Large mixing bowl for marinating
• •Small saucepan for reducing the glaze
• •Slotted spoon and a wide platter for resting the seared pork

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the pork properly

   Lay the pork shoulder on a clean cutting board and find the direction of the grain. Slice across it into strips about half an inch thick and three inches long. Across the grain, not with it. Strips cut the wrong way turn stringy in the wok and you will know the moment you bite one. The Chinese cooks in Mexicali learned this from their grandfathers and now you know it too.

   If your pork shoulder has a fat cap, leave it. Trim only the silver skin and the gristle. The fat is what keeps the meat tender through the high-heat sear.
2. 2

   Build the marinade

   In a large bowl, whisk together the light and dark soy sauces, hoisin, honey, piloncillo, Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, mashed fermented bean curd, five-spice powder, dissolved achiote paste, food coloring or beet juice if using, garlic, ginger, green onions, salt, and white pepper. Whisk until the piloncillo is dissolved and the marinade is uniform and red. The achiote is your Mexican fingerprint on this Chinese marinade. La Chinesca cooks adopted it from the local mercado because it gave the same lacquered red the canton cooks wanted, with ingredients they could buy down the street.

3. 3

   Marinate overnight

   Add the pork strips to the marinade. Turn each piece so every strip is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least six hours, ideally overnight. This is not a step you rush. The salt in the soy and the acid in the vinegar need time to work into the meat. No me vengas con atajos. A two-hour marinade gives you red pork. An overnight marinade gives you carnitas coloradas.

4. 4

   Drain and reserve

   When you are ready to cook, lift the pork from the marinade with a slotted spoon and let it drain in a colander for five minutes. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan. You will reduce it later into a glaze. Pat the pork pieces lightly with paper towels. Wet pork steams in the wok. Drained pork sears.

5. 5

   Reduce the marinade into a glaze

   Bring the reserved marinade to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower to a steady simmer and cook for eight to ten minutes, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It should look like dark cherry syrup with a glossy shine. This is what gives the pork its lacquered finish at the end. The boil also kills anything left from the raw pork, so the glaze is safe to use.

6. 6

   Heat the wok

   Set a carbon steel wok or a heavy cast iron skillet over the highest heat your stove can produce. Let it heat for three full minutes until a drop of water vaporizes the moment it hits the surface. Add the lard. The fat should shimmer immediately and start to smoke at the edges. If your stove cannot get hot enough, work in smaller batches. Crowding the pan is the enemy of the sear.

7. 7

   Stir-fry in batches

   Add a third of the pork to the wok in a single layer. Do not stir for the first 45 seconds. Let the meat sear and pick up dark, charred edges where it touches the metal. Then toss and stir aggressively for two more minutes, until the pork is cooked through and the outside is mahogany dark with crisp edges. Transfer to a clean platter and repeat with the remaining two batches. Add a little more lard between batches if the wok looks dry.

   The dark spots from the sugar in the marinade caramelizing on the wok are flavor. Do not scrub them off between batches. They build the dish.
8. 8

   Glaze and finish

   Return all the pork to the wok over medium-high heat. Pour the reduced glaze over the meat and toss for one minute, just long enough for every piece to take on the lacquer. The pork should look glossy, dark red, and the edges should crackle. Pull the wok off the heat the moment the glaze coats. Overcooked at this point and the sugars burn.

9. 9

   Serve at the table

   Pile the pork on a wide plate. Set out warm flour tortillas, steamed white rice, sliced cucumber, raw white onion, cilantro, lime, and salsa de chile de arbol in small dishes around the table. In Mexicali, you eat this two ways: as a taco on a flour tortilla with cilantro and onion, or over rice with cucumber and lime. Both are correct. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and Baja California's kitchen has two grandmothers.

Chef Tips

• •Find a Chinese grocer for the Shaoxing wine, the dark soy, and the fermented bean curd. In Mexicali they buy these at the same stores their grandparents shopped at. Outside Baja, any Asian market will carry them. Substituting dry sherry for Shaoxing is a compromise, not an upgrade. Skipping the bean curd flattens the depth.
• •The achiote paste is what makes this Mexicali and not Hong Kong. Use a brand from Yucatan if you can, El Yucateco or La Anita. A teaspoon is enough. More than that and you taste it as Mexican, less than that and the color does not show.
• •The fat content of the pork shoulder matters. A lean cut will give you dry, tough strips no matter how carefully you marinate. Look for shoulder with marbling visible on the cut surface. La manteca es el sabor, even when you are stir-frying.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork must marinate at least 6 hours, ideally overnight. Plan one day ahead.
• •The marinade can be mixed up to 2 days in advance and held in the refrigerator before adding the pork.
• •Leftover carnitas coloradas keep refrigerated for 3 days and reheat well in a hot wok or skillet for 2 minutes. Do not microwave or the glaze turns rubbery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)