Carnitas Estilo Michoacan

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Copper cazo from Santa Clara del Cobre or wide heavy 8-quart Dutch oven
• •Long wooden paddle or sturdy wooden spoon
• •Kitchen spider or slotted spoon
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan
• •Fine-mesh strainer for saving the manteca
• •Cast iron comal for warming corn tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the pork

   Pat the pork shoulder, belly or skin, ribs, and buche dry. Season all over with the kosher salt and oregano. Let it sit 20 minutes while you set the pot. Salt needs time to enter the meat, not just sit on the surface.

   If using buche, buy it already cleaned from a serious carniceria. Rinse it well. If it smells harsh, do not use it. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
2. 2

   Melt the manteca

   Set a copper cazo or wide heavy 8-quart pot over medium-low heat. Add the manteca de cerdo and melt it slowly. The fat should come at least halfway up the pork once everything is added. Yes, that much. La manteca es el sabor.

3. 3

   Start the confit

   Lower the pork shoulder, ribs, belly or skin, and buche into the warm lard. Add the onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Squeeze the orange halves over the pot and drop them in. The fat should bubble lazily, not attack the meat. Keep the heat controlled. Carnitas is patience in a pot.

4. 4

   Cook until tender

   Cook uncovered for about 2 hours, turning the pieces every 30 minutes. The shoulder should begin to loosen from the bone, the cuerito should feel soft when pressed with tongs, and the ribs should bend without falling apart. If the pot boils hard, lower the heat. Hard boiling makes tough pork. Slow fat makes carnitas.

5. 5

   Add milk and cola

   Stir the milk and Mexican Coca-Cola together, then pour them carefully into the pot. It will foam and sputter. Stand back and stir with a long spoon. The milk helps the surface brown, and the cane sugar in the cola gives those dark amber edges people fight over at the taqueria. Use cane sugar cola or leave it out. Corn syrup cola is a compromise I don't recommend.

6. 6

   Brown the carnitas

   Raise the heat to medium and cook 45 to 60 minutes more, turning more often now. The liquid will cook off, the fat will clear, and the meat will begin to fry in the manteca. Watch the color. You want mahogany edges, glossy skin, and pork that tears open softly inside. Black spots mean you walked away. Don't walk away.

7. 7

   Drain and rest

   Lift the carnitas from the fat with a spider or slotted spoon and set them on a rack over a sheet pan for 10 minutes. Discard the spent orange, onion, bay leaves, and garlic. Strain the lard through a fine-mesh sieve. Save it. That seasoned manteca is for beans, eggs, salsas, and the next batch. A Michoacan cook does not throw away flavor.

8. 8

   Serve for almuerzo

   Tear the maciza into rough pieces and cut the cuerito into strips. Pile everything on a green-glazed barro plate or straight onto a warm comal. Serve with corn tortillas, raw white onion, cilantro, lime, salsa verde, and salsa de chile de arbol. This is almuerzo from Occidente, not a late-night gimmick. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •A copper cazo from Santa Clara del Cobre conducts heat beautifully, but a wide enameled Dutch oven works at home. The pot must be wide enough for the pork to sit in one crowded layer. A tall narrow pot gives you boiled meat before it gives you browned carnitas.
• •Do not ask the butcher for lean pork. Ask for shoulder with fat, skin-on belly, cuerito, ribs, and clean buche if you want surtida. The fat and collagen are what make the texture.
• •Carnitas is not served with flour tortillas in Michoacan. Use corn tortillas, warmed on a comal and kept in a cloth-lined basket. Flour belongs to the north. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
• •For salsa, serve both salsa verde with tomatillo and chile serrano and a red salsa de chile de arbol. The chile de arbol cuts the fat. That is why it belongs on the table.

Advance Preparation

• •Carnitas can be cooked one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat with a spoonful of its strained manteca, then reheat on a sheet pan at 425F for 12 to 15 minutes until the edges crisp again.
• •The strained manteca keeps refrigerated for several months. Use it for refried beans, eggs, chilaquiles, or another pot of carnitas.
• •Dice the onion, wash the cilantro, and make the salsas the night before. Warm the tortillas only when you are ready to eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)