Michoacán Carnitas Torta

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Copper cazo from Santa Clara del Cobre or a wide heavy Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for roasting salsa ingredients and warming bolillos
• •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan
• •Blender or volcanic stone molcajete for the salsa
• •Sharp heavy knife for chopping carnitas

Instructions

1. 1

   Melt the lard

   Set a copper cazo, wide Dutch oven, or heavy cazuela over medium-low heat and melt the manteca de cerdo. You need enough lard to come at least halfway up the pork. Yes, that much. La manteca es el sabor. If the meat is barely greased, it will dry before it turns into carnitas.

2. 2

   Load the pork

   Season the pork shoulder, pork belly or skin, and any exposed meat with the tablespoon of salt. Lower the pieces into the warm lard, skin side down where you can. Add the halved onion, halved garlic, bay leaves, and the juice from the orange, then drop the orange halves into the pot. Pour in the milk and Mexican Coca-Cola. The pot will look strange for a few minutes. Leave it alone. The liquid cooks down and the fat takes over.

   Do not let the butcher trim the shoulder clean. Fat and skin are not waste here. They are structure, flavor, and the crisp pieces everyone fights over.
3. 3

   Cook until tender

   Keep the pot at a low, steady bubble for about 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes so the milk solids do not catch on the bottom. The pork is ready for the next stage when a fork slides into the shoulder without resistance but the chunks still hold their shape. No me vengas con atajos. If you raise the heat now, the outside toughens before the inside surrenders.

4. 4

   Crisp the carnitas

   Raise the heat to medium-high and cook 25 to 35 minutes more, stirring more often. The remaining water will cook off, the lard will clear, and the pork will begin to fry. Watch the edges. They should turn dark gold to mahogany, with crackling skin and soft meat underneath. Lift the carnitas out with a slotted spoon and drain on a rack. Strain and save the lard. A Michoacán kitchen does not throw that away.

5. 5

   Roast the salsa

   While the pork finishes, heat a dry comal over medium. Roast the tomatillos, chile serrano, fresh chile de arbol, quartered onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomatillos slump and char in spots, the chiles blister, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Turn everything as it cooks. The salsa needs that roasted edge to stand up to the fat of the carnitas.

6. 6

   Blend the salsa

   Peel the roasted garlic. Blend the tomatillos, chiles, onion, garlic, cilantro, and 1 teaspoon salt until loose but not watery. Taste it against a piece of carnitas, not from a spoon. The salsa should be sharp enough to cut the fat and green enough to taste like the mercado. Add salt if it tastes sleepy.

7. 7

   Warm the bolillos

   Split the bolillos without cutting all the way through. Toast the cut sides on a comal or in a dry skillet until the crumb turns lightly crisp and the outside feels warm. Do not use sweet sandwich rolls. A bolillo has a thin crust and a plain crumb that can hold fat and salsa without turning into paste.

8. 8

   Chop the meat

   Chop together a mix of maciza, skin, and fatty edges. This matters. A torta made only with lean pork shoulder tastes flat, and a torta made only with skin is too heavy. You want contrast: crisp, soft, fatty, salty. Squeeze a little lime over the chopped meat while it is still warm.

9. 9

   Build the tortas

   Spread avocado on the bottom half of each warm bolillo and season it with a pinch of salt. Pile on the chopped carnitas. Spoon salsa verde over the meat, then add raw white onion and chopped cilantro. Close the bread and press once with your palm so the juices touch the crumb. Serve with lime wedges and pickled jalapeños and carrots on the side. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for pork shoulder with skin, plus a little extra cuerito if your butcher has it. The torta needs different textures. Maciza alone is respectable, but it is not generous.
• •A copper cazo from Santa Clara del Cobre is the traditional vessel because it spreads heat evenly over a wide surface. If you do not have one, use the widest heavy pot you own. A tall narrow pot gives you boiled pork before it gives you carnitas.
• •Use bolillos for this Michoacán torta. Birote salado belongs to Jalisco, especially tortas ahogadas in Guadalajara. Good bread is regional knowledge, not decoration.
• •If tomatillos are pale, hard, and sour without flavor, do not force salsa verde that day. Make a salsa de chile de arbol with roasted tomato instead. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade, but the mercado decides what is worth cooking.
• •Save every spoonful of strained lard. Use it for refried beans, chilaquiles, or the next pot of carnitas. That seasoned manteca is kitchen capital.

Advance Preparation

• •The carnitas can be cooked one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat with a few spoonfuls of its strained lard, then reheat on a sheet pan at 425F until the edges crisp again.
• •The salsa verde can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Taste for salt after chilling because cold dulls the tomatillo and chile.
• •Do not assemble the tortas ahead. The bolillo absorbs salsa and fat quickly. Build them when people are ready to eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 355g)