Carnitas

Pork simmered soft in lard, and then the heat turned up so it fries in the same fat it cooked in.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains lard, pork.

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork shoulder, in 5 cm chunks
• 500 g lard
• 1 orange, halved
• 1 onion, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 100 ml milk
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve
• salsa verde, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THE HEAT IS TURNED UP AT THE END SO IT FRIES IN THE SAME FAT IT COOKED IN, and that second stage is the whole dish. For two hours the pork sits in barely bubbling lard and goes completely soft -- that is a confit, and stopped there it is pale, rich and slightly dull. Then the heat goes up, the water that has come out of the meat boils away, and the temperature of the fat climbs past frying point with the pork still in it. In fifteen minutes the outside of every piece crisps and browns while the inside stays as soft as it was. Crisp edges and a soft middle, from one pan and without the meat ever being moved.
2. THE WATER LEAVING IS WHAT MAKES THE TRANSITION HAPPEN, and it can be heard. While there is water in the pan the fat cannot get above boiling point, and the sound is a steady wet bubbling. As it goes the noise changes to a sharper, drier crackle, and that is the moment the frying starts. Listening for it is more reliable than watching the colour.
3. THE MILK GOES IN AND IT IS NOT A MISTAKE. A hundred millilitres, early. The sugars in it brown deeply in the fat and give the finished edges a colour and a faint sweetness that pork and lard alone do not produce. It looks wrong going in and leaves no trace of itself beyond that.
4. THE ORANGE GOES IN WHOLE AND HALVED, SKIN AND ALL. Juice alone would be acid and would stop there. The halves give up their juice slowly and the peel gives up its oil into the hot fat, which is where most of what the orange contributes actually comes from.
5. IT MUST NOT BE STIRRED ONCE THE FRYING STARTS. Up to that point an occasional turn is fine. Once the fat is properly hot, stirring knocks the crust off the pieces that have formed one and they will not form it twice. The pan is left alone and shaken, not stirred, and the pieces are turned once with tongs halfway through.
6. The lard melted in a wide heavy pan over a low heat.
7. The pork added in a single layer with the orange halves, onion, garlic, bay, oregano and salt. The fat should come most of the way up the meat.
8. The milk poured in.
9. Brought to a BARE bubble and cooked 2 HOURS over a LOW heat, turned once or twice. It must not brown yet.
10. TESTED: a piece should crush easily against the side of the pan. If not, another 30 minutes.
11. The orange, onion and bay fished out and discarded.
12. THE HEAT TURNED UP to medium-high. The sound will change from a wet bubbling to a dry CRACKLE as the water leaves.
13. Fried 12 to 15 MINUTES from that point, the pan SHAKEN but NOT STIRRED, and the pieces turned once with tongs.
14. Cooked until the edges are deep brown and crisp and the middles still soft.
15. Lifted out with a slotted spoon onto paper, and pulled apart coarsely.
16. Served with tortillas and salsa verde. The lard strained and kept for next time.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes